Guyana’s National Senior Men’s Team, known as the “The Golden Jaguars”, has arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and commenced a two-week period of encampment in preparation for their first match of the Concacaf Nation’s League on September 8, 2018 at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.
GFF’s Executive Committee Member and RFA President Rayan Farias with the first batch of Golden Jaguars to arrive at Lethem en route to Brazil
The encampment, which began today, will see the 23-man player squad and 17-man technical staff engaged in both on and off-field activities and the team playing four warm-up matches against high quality opponents prior to their first match against Barbados.
Technical Director, Ian Greenwood, said the camp, being held at Hotel Porto Real – Mangaratiba RJ, enables the team the “opportunity to train at top class facilities with all the appropriate recovery and rehabilitation facilitates.” Other potential benefits of the national encampment include: The Head Coach and Staff getting an in-depth look at Guyana-based players to see who could potentially join the Nations League squad in the upcoming Gold Cup 2019 qualification campaign; an opportunity for the players to understand the methodology of the new staff as we look to imbed the GFF’s National Playing Philosophy into the Senior Men’s squad and the opportunity for the Guyana-based Development Coaches to gain first-hand experience operating in a senior professional level.
Greenwood added that the camp will also potentially foster “GFF networking opportunity with our close neighbours in Brazil, which will open the door for collaboration with the Brazilian Federation and professional clubs for player and coaching exchanges, as well as future camps with various GFF Age Group squads.”
Head Coach Michael Johnson said the camp will include activities aimed at developing a “winning mind-set and drive for excellence” among the players.
Guyana has been matched against Barbados, Turks and Caicos Islands, French Guiana and Belize and will play host to Barbados and Belize in September 2018 and March 2019 respectively while Turks and Caicos Islands and French Guiana will host Guyana in October and November 2018.
