MIAMI.- Guadeloupe stand to be one of the heavy hitters in League C. 

Twelve years ago, the national team reached the semifinal of the 2007 Concacaf Gold Cup after knocking out Honduras, proving they were legitimate threats in a tournament for which the majority of teams currently League C have never even qualified. 

That Guadeloupe team went toe-to-toe with Mexico in the semifinal, before narrowly losing, similar to Haiti in the 2019 Gold Cup. 

But it is 2019, not 2007, or 2009, or 2011 for that matter, when Les Gwada Boys also qualified to the confederation’s biggest party, and Guadeloupe can’t just point to their history and claim superiority; they’ll seek to demonstrate it on the field.

Fortunately for them, they’ve got the capabilities to do so. Guadeloupe was the highest finishing League C team in qualifying, missing out on League B only via goal differential due to a 6-0 loss against Curacao. Overall though, Guadeloupe performed well. 

Another positive to take away from the campaign was all the team-building and gelling was done after not playing a match for almost two years. Now the side have got a few matches under their belts and should be ready to begin their climb back towards the region’s upper echelons.

The talent on this team is impressive. Dimitri Foulquier has played the last seven seasons in La Liga and Ligue 1 for Granada, Strasbourg, and Getafe. Mickael Tacalfred has 300 appearances between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, giving Guadeloupe a dynamic defense. Meanwhile, forward Claudio Beauvue is currently at Caen but is owned by Celta Vigo and made 19 appearances for Olympique Lyon just a few years ago. 

It goes without saying that Guadeloupe will accept nothing less than promotion to League B during this inaugural Nations League cycle.