GFF will not make ‘hasty decisions’ regarding Technical Personnel – Forde

Jun 16, 2021 Sports

By Franklin Wilson

GFF President Wayne Forde (right) engages SMNT Head Coach Márcio Máximo. (Franklin Wilson photo)

Kaieteur News – Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde was yesterday resolute in stating that his Federation will not be making any hasty decision (s) with regards to personnel working with the Senior Men’s National Team (SMNT) which has re-started training at the GFF National Training Centre ahead of next month’s 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary Round match against Guatemala at the Inter Miami CF Stadium in South Florida.

Omari Glasgow

Nicholas McArthur

Rishaun Ritch

Concacaf’s flagship competition will for the first time include the Prelims prior to the 16 team Group Stage and Guyana, one of 12 nations participating in the Prelims qualified through their Concacaf Nations League performances; these nations will compete for the final three spots in the Gold Cup Group 16-team Stage.
Forde made his comments as he was responding to questions from the Media following his statement on Guyana’s participation in the Concacaf leg of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifying competition.
“We understand clearly the task ahead of us and everything is being done to ensure that we undertake those assignments with the full support of all involved.”
Further, Forde stated that whilst neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago has sacked their Head Coach Terry Fenwick, the GFF does not compare actions of sister federations since each would have its own unique circumstances that must be taken care of.
“What I would like to say to the general public and those who may have expressed their views about the head coach future with Guyana’s football is that we have to bring much more to bear in our deliberation and consideration before we make those very significant decisions.
The fans and the public as one would expect, their expectation is consistent high performance and as I would have said in my statement, we were unable to do that this time around. But that does not mean that we will make hasty decisions before we would have considered all the factors.”
The President re-iterated that the governing body will continue to monitor and examine the programme holistically and decisions that are essential to bring the desired results for all to be happy would be made.
Asked to share his views on the level of preparation of the local based ‘Golden Jaguars’ leading into the June qualifying window, Forde stated that not just for the SMNT, but all teams, anyone with a fair pair of eyes would recognise that preparations have been better than before.
“You know, there’s an old saying that, success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, I think no one can fault us for having our guys out here, day in day out working very hard. I think there were obviously clear signs that we’re making progress. I think a couple of recent international signings is an indication of how well the guys have been able to cope with the lack of activity primarily due to the almost two years that they haven’t been able to play any football.”
Just a few days ago, 19 year-old players Nicholas McArthur and Rishaun Ritch (Fruta Conquerors Football Club) signed contracts with Jamaica’s top club Portmore United and will play in the Pro League there. They have both been on the club from ‘Reggae’ land radar since 2018 when they represented Guyana at the Concacaf U-20 Championships in Florida.
Another Fruta Conquerors FC player and baby of the SMNT team, 17 year-old Omari Glasgow recently participated in a two-day National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One ‘University ID’ try-out in Atlanta, USA.
Forde underscored that the players have all been training consistently in the SMNT programme at the GFF Providence training facility.
“Clearly we see in the games that we lost that there is no substitute for game time, we knew that, and we really worked hard. We are happy with the progress the guys are making; we hope that very soon they can have the platform, which is game time to really exercise the knowledge that they are gaining through the technical development programme.”
It was also disclosed that an extensive holistic review of the World Cup campaign is underway and at the appropriate time, the GFF would be reporting to the public which information would include the financial investment made.
Given the challenges that have been brought on by the covid-19 pandemic, the Federation would have had to use chartered flights to move local based players and technical staff around the region.
Forde further revealed that until commercial travel in the region returns to some level of normalcy, the GFF might be locked into having to use charters for regional engagements.