Following the senior men’s national football team’s recent stint in St Kitts and Nevis, there has been much talk about the quality of Guyana football and whether a change needs to be made.
However, Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde is of the firm belief that Guyana is heading in the right direction – for more reasons than one.
Firstly, the football boss is confident in the local programmes that will work together to cohesively improve all aspects of the game.
“I would like to assure our loyal fans here at home and abroad, that the GFF has been making steady progress in laying a sturdy foundation for the long-term success of all of our national teams by investing in many key areas that were neglected by previous administrations,” the GFF President shared during a media engagement last week.
Detailing those efforts and initiatives, Forde continued, “Through the recently-launched M-FAP programme, we continue to invest heavily in coaching education, infrastructure development, more football equipment and state-of-the-art data management technologies. We are providing unprecedented financial and material support to our members, so that they too can achieve their strategic goals.”
Forde was nothing if not honest about the perception that no results are being seen and as such, he reiterated his confidence in their efforts.
“While it will take some time before we realise the full returns on these investments, we can all take comfort in the positive performances of our youth national teams over the past five years as a firm validation that we are heading in the right direction,” the GFF boss assured.
The Golden Jaguars’ next engagement will come in a matter of weeks in the preliminary qualification process for the 2021 Gold Cup.
Once in Miami, Forde disclosed, the national men’s team will play two friendly games to ascertain “the players’ level of match fitness and other performance benchmarks”.
On the topic of opposing Guatemala he said, “There is no doubt that Guatemala will be a tough obstacle in advancing to the round of 16, and we should be realistic about our expectations. However, we expect the squad and staff to give everything they have to cause Guatemala some serious problems throughout the match, and we know the support of the fans can make all the difference.”
Once completed, Forde promised that the domestic arm of the national team will get back to training in hopes of achieving some consistency.
“After the Gold Cup, the team will not be in competitive action until next year. We will use this time to further strengthen the development of our domestic-based national team players together with a consistent level of local and international games.”
