March 7, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Junior Mackenson Altidor, the heart of Temple's defense, has been called up to join the Bahamas senior national team for their World Cup Qualifying matches on March 26 and March 30. The Bahamas will host the British Virgin Islands on those dates at their home field, the BFA National Centre for Football Development in the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex in Nassau.
The Bahamas Football Association did not play any international matches for a two and a half year span between March 2004 and September 2006. They returned to compete in the Digicel Caribbean Cup where they conjured up two great victories against the Cayman Islands (3-1) and the Turks & Caicos Islands (3-2) which were the first for the national team for nearly seven years.
The Bahamas Under-23 national team (which Altidor is also a part of) recently posted the best result for the Bahamas Football Association in recent years, and maybe ever, with a 1-0 win over Jamaica in the second round of Olympic Qualifying.
Altidor joins the senior men's national team at a time where they are obviously playing their best soccer in recent years and they hope to continue that streak. The two matches versus the British Virgin Islands will decide who will advance to the next round of World Cup Qualifying. The winner will face Jamaica to see who advances to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
