Kansas City Wizards midfielder Stéphane Auvray has joined the Guadeloupe National Team ahead of their participation in the Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010 later this week. Auvray, who debuted for Guadeloupe in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup and captained the country at the tournament two years later, will once again try to help qualify the Les Gwada Boys for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup by reaching the semifinals of the Caribbean Cup.
That journey begins in the qualifying group stage two, where Guadeloupe was drawn with three other island nations in Group E. Guadeloupe will face No. 151 Saint Kitts and Nevis on Friday, October 22 in the group opener, then meet No. 170 Puerto Rico on Sunday, October 24, before closing the group against No. 128 Grenada on Tuesday, October 26.
All three games will be played at National Stadium in St. George’s, Grenada, and the top two nations from the group will advance to the eight-team Caribbean Cup final tournament in Martinique in late November and early December.
Auvray has 14 appearances for the Guadeloupe National Team, a member of CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union, but not officially recognized by FIFA due to its distinction as an overseas region of France.
Auvray signed with Kansas City in January, and the 29-year-old defensive midfielder started 21 games for the Wizards in 2010, earning an assist in his debut in the season opener.
Guadeloupe is coming off a successful showing in Paris at the 2010 Coupe de l’Outre-Mer last month, where they finished in third place with victories over Mayotte and Martinique, and penalty kick losses to New Caledonia and Tahiti.
Auvray will become the sixth Wizards player to take part in international competition during the 2010 calendar year, joining Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone), Sunil Chhetri (India), Shavar Thomas (Jamaica), Jimmy Conrad (USA) and Roger Espinoza (Honduras).
Auvray will return to Kansas City following the Group E matches.
