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Scotiabank CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup…This is the last time Guyana will be in this position of under preparation – GFF President
By Franklin Wilson
With less than one month to go before Guyana’s flagship senior football team, the ‘Golden Jaguars’
Wayne S. Forde – President GFF
Jaguars take on old nemesis Suriname and Jamaica in Round 3 of the Scotiabank CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is expected to name the squad of players that would be vying for places on the final team, today.
Speaking with Kaieteur Sport on team preparation yesterday, GFF head Wayne Forde when asked if he was satisfied with the time frame that would be given to the players and Technical staff headed by Jamaal Shabazz to prepare had this to say: “This is the last time that Guyana will be in this position of under preparation at every level, you have my word on that.”
Last week, when Kaieteur Sport posed a similar question to Shabazz, this was his reaction: “Time is the most precious commodity in international football. It is the big difference between coaching at the club and the national team level. I am one who complies and then complains. At the moment I feel like we have been given a fork to fight Goliath who possesses nuclear armaments.
But then again the battle between David and Goliath was not won based on superiority in weaponry. These are difficult times but we must accept that there must be no excuse for committing ourselves to the task at hand.”
Forde was frank in stating that as head of the sport in Guyana he is not pleased that consistently, time to get in shape is always a challenge.
”No I am absolutely not satisfied with our preparation but it is the best we can do under the current circumstances. The initial plan had several international friendlies but unavoidable delays with our funding severely affected those plans. We tried to get some of our CFU colleagues to visit us but they too are finding it difficult to fund the cost of travel within the region. We are however still pursuing some warm-up games.”
Forde informed that the Elite Clubs were advised to commence pre-season training four weeks ago and encouraged to play practice matches but only some of these clubs complied, while others didn’t.
Based on updated CFU fixtures, Guyana is down to face Suriname on October 8 at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaribo and Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz three days later at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Forde shared that a team of inspectors from the Caribbean Football Union are expected to be in Guyana within the coming days to inspect the field at Providence.
The GFF head also shared his thoughts on how Guyana would do against Jamaica and Suriname: “I think Guyana has proven time and time again over the past years that despite the huge disparity in funding, access to high quality facilities, endemic organisational inefficiencies etc, the players and management staff seems to know when and where to leave those challenges; they step onto the field of play with an aura of pride and confidence that all of the regional powerhouses are far too aware of.
Suriname and Jamaica are formidable opponents and we have to be at our best on that night to secure a victory.”
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