Smith happy to be back, Welshman elated to be invited

Jan 24, 2015 Sports

By Franklin Wilson
The Golden Jaguars continued their training session yesterday afternoon at the Guyana Defence Force ground having held their morning session at the

Emery Welshman (left) and Jamaal Smith before their practice session at GDF yesterday afternoon.

Guyana National Stadium, Providence. Joining the team yesterday was the Canada based duo of defender Jamaal Smith and first timer, Emery Welshman.
Speaking with Kaieteur Sport at the GDF ground, Smith said he was happy to be back, “It’s been a long time, it’s nice to see all these familiar faces again and with Shabazz back in the fold I know that things are going to be in order, back to where we were when we were excelling”, the tall defender shared.
Given his vast experience since his last outing with the Golden Jaguars over two years ago, Smith believes that his experience will be valuable to the team which has a number of young players in the squad. “I’m going to definitely give any information I can and help in any way that I can.”
Welshman said that he was excited to be here and looking forward to the challenge of playing for Guyana.
Commenting on how he became interested in playing for Guyana even though he could have chosen Canada, Welshman stated that one of his dad’s friends, Garth Nelson made initial contact with him and asked if he was interested in playing with the Golden Jaguars.
He said that he was interested but was a bit hesitant to come after hearing that the GFF under the previous administration did not want any players from overseas.
”Even though I still had the chance to play for Canada I felt that coming to Guyana was the right choice to play for my parents’ country at this juncture of my career. Currently I am play for Sigma FC in the Canadian Division One but I am still looking at a few tryouts with MLS clubs after these trials.”
Welshman who played for Major League Soccer side Toronto FC and the Portland Timbers FC paid his own way to come to and try out with the Golden Jaguars and is confident that he would be able to bring his experience to bear with the Golden Jaguars.