Latest update May 4th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 24, 2021 Sports
By Franklin Wilson in the Dominican Republic, compliments of Secure Innovations & Concepts, Industrial Safety Supplies Inc., Fazia’s Motor Spares and GFF
Kaieteur News – With the ‘Golden Jaguars set to take on Trinidad and Tobago in its first FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifying match in the Dominican Republic in less than 48-hours, Kaieteur Sport reached out to GFF President Wayne Forde to tap into his thoughts on the two very important matches as well as some other related matters.
Guyana will also play Bahamas next Tuesday here, this decision though hard, was necessary given the current challenges being faced by all the nations brought on by covid-19 pandemic. As a matter of fact, not only Guyana, T&T and Bahamas would be playing here, Saint Kitts, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Panama, Barbados, Turks & Caicos Islands, Nicaragua, Belize, Anguilla and the host nation would also be in action from tomorrow.
Following are the questions and answers:
KS – President Forde, what message you would like to send out to the ‘Golden Jaguars’ and the Guyanese people?
WF – I would like to express my deep appreciation to the players and staff for their service to this beautiful nation through football. They are all legitimate Sons of the land of many waters and deserves the honour we have bestowed upon them to defend our dignity as a nation, in what we expect to be an extremely testing qualification campaign. I am truly humbled by their collective sacrifices and wish to assure them that all of Guyana is behind them and we send nothing but positive thoughts and prayers for a successful first round.
KS – How confident are you that we can finish this round with six points?
WF – I derive confidence from the things I can control. For example, (1) We have assembled an exceptional fulltime Technical and Coaching staff, which is being led by Mr. Ian Greenwood and Coach Márcio Máximo; (2) the national team players began their preparations in early January – training five days a week; (3) they are training unhindered at Guyana’s very first technical centre, which is built by my administration; (4) we have made huge investments in new state of the art equipment, software and other first world technologies to further professionalise the national team programme; (5) we are taking very good care of our players by ensuring that they were being shuttled to and from the training venue during the preparation in order to reduce the risk of them contracting covid-19; in addition to providing nutritious meals etc. each training day; (6) we were methodically shaping a programme that leads all the way to 2026. While the results are influenced by many factors, I want it to be absolutely clear that Coach Máximo has my complete confidence and support. With that being said, I have every reason to believe that our ‘Golden Jaguars’ are more than capable of ending this round with six points on the board and the Executive Committee is prepared to do all that we can to support them in this quest.
KS – Do you have any reaction to the criticism levelled against the Head Coach regarding the selection of the Team?
WF–Debates around team selection is unavoidable and at times can be very useful in promoting a fixture and driving public interest and excitement. However, what we have witnessed over the past week was clearly a well-coordinated plan to shape the narrative – this has been a consistent pattern by some sections of the media. Despite this, I do believe that most of our fans and the Guyanese public at large can see right through the thick smog of deception and empty noise being made by specific actors within the media fraternity. Their sinister agenda, which also seeks to break the spirit of the team and undermine the public confidence in the qualification campaign, will fail. To say more about this is a complete waste of my time.
I would only say this to the nation, let’s come together and celebrate each occasion when a young man emerges from a difficult community, a broken home, the temptation to enter a life of crime ever looming but instead, through his own hard work and perseverance – earns the right to represent the Golden Arrowhead on the international football stage, then this I believe would be a more fitting headline and story of meaningful public interest.
While the buck ultimately stops with me, the Head Coach has the right to independently select the National Team based on the guidelines, strategy and goals of the GFF Executive Committee. He is an experienced professional whose record with the programme is there for all to see – I do believe that he puts a lot of thought into his decisions and I trust his judgement.
Every Coach brings his own experience and Management style to the job and while it is reasonable to expect disagreements and differences of opinion, it is absolutely that he be given the tools and space to do the job for which he is accountable.
KS – How will this campaign influence the future of the National Team programme?
WF – This campaign will allow us to gauge progress, identify weaknesses on and off the pitch, gather critical data and make whatever adjustments are deemed necessary. Our goal is to build the Regions leading national Team programme. We are investing strategically to achieve this and I am confident that in two-year’s time we will have a sustainable world class player development programme. The facilities that are part of the ongoing construction of the GFF National Training Centre will enable us to do extensive work with our most gifted players.
Our National Teams are already showing huge progress – the youth boys and girls in particular. These are early days yet which of course encourages higher expectations for the future. I have been consistent over the past five years, the 2026 FIFA expanded (48 Teams) World Cup is what we are targeting and I remain extremely optimistic about our chances.
KS – Do you have any final thoughts for the team?
WF – Don’t be distracted by the empty noise – the task ahead is much, much greater than an ill-informed opinion. All of Guyana is behind you and praying for a successful campaign.
GRA catch EXXON trying to hunch GUYANA over 11 BUS dollars in one shot!!!!
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