Next year, the senior men’s national football team, commonly referred to as the Golden Jaguars, will begin their journey towards a second qualification for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
However, with the coronavirus pandemic still lurking, it poses a threat to the preparedness of the squad.
GFF President Wayne Forde
“That is a very tough question and it is one that keeps me up quite often, because as it is right now, we are behind.”
That was the answer given by Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde when probed about the state of the senior men’s national team in relation to their Gold Cup preliminary round participation in 2021, during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport.
The Golden Jaguars starting XI at the 2019 Gold Cup
The Golden Jaguars’ quest will begin on July 2, next year, as they take on Guatemala in the United States. Thereafter, should the local boys come out victorious, they will be tasked with defeating the winner of a Guadeloupe vs Bahamas match-up in order to make their way into the Gold Cup competition.
After revealing his concerns about the preparations, the GFF President went on to share that his main concerns regard the training of the local players, whose involvement in the national team he is passionate about.
“And we’re behind in a sense that when we hired Coach Maximo, we made it clear to him that one of his main focus is to ensure that the locally-grown players are given the best possible chance to break in to the squad. And I think you would have witnessed the consistency with which he prepared those players,” Forde noted.
“Those players like all other players in Guyana have been inactive for 10 months. We should’ve already been … [preparing] the training pitch. We’re not there, and I cannot say when we’ll be there, because it’s not entirely up to me and that is very troubling.”
Forde went on to share that should the odds remain not in their favour, there were international players on hand to take up the mantle. He added that their constant training and playing even through the pandemic would be a plus for the team.
“We have a complete team of internationally-based players who are actively engaged in competition and I think if the situation continues this way, I think it is very likely that we will almost exclusively have to rely on those players,” he said.
“But we must know that that is not the best strategy for us. It’s not something that I feel good about, but if it comes down that, that is what it is, then that is what it will have to be,” Forde declared.
In the meantime, the GFF boss disclosed plans to present a ‘bubble plan’ to Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr and by extension ,the Government of Guyana, that will allow the locals to prepare in a safe environment under COVID-19 guidelines.
“We’ve been also speaking to the Minister of Sport and we’ve been actively refining a plan that we’ll be presenting to him that will give us a chance to create some semblance of a bubble as resources and local conditions and circumstances permit in Guyana,” the GFF President shared.
“Once he feels that it is a practical plan within the context of Guyana, I think his commitment is that he’ll make representation to the COVID-19 task force on our behalf and coming out of that, I’m expecting we can have a broader discussion, where we will discuss how this plan will be implemented and what level of support we will need.”
Forde also stressed on the need for Government’s involvement, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, owing to the fact that it is a national team and the required resources will be a great burden for the GFF to shoulder alone.
The GFF boss commented, “’Cause again, the Guyana Football Federation does not have the resources to do all these things. This is not the Guyana Football Federation Golden Jaguars, this is Guyana Golden Jaguars and if we’re going to prepare a team to represent Guyana, we’ll need all the help we can get from the Government and other stakeholders.”
