Five newcomers are in the Golden Jaguars’ shortlist of 22 players of which 20 will be selected for the upcoming Scotia Bank 2016 CFU Caribbean Men’s Cup Championship engagements against Suriname in Paramaribo (8th October) and Jamaica at the National Track and Field Facility, Leonora (11th October, 2016). Making a return is skipper Christopher Nurse who missed out on the last round of matches when Guyana lost to Curacao and defeated US Virgin Islands in the second round of the tournament in June. Unfortunately, top midfielder Neil Danns is injured out and so too are strikers Sheldon Holder, Emery Welshman and Canada-based goalkeeper Anthony Whyte.
Canada-based schoolboy Shaquille Agard could not get enough time off from school and Devon Millington, Gregory Richardson and Kester Jacobs have all made themselves unavailable. Instead Coach Shabazz has invited USA-based schoolboys, winger Cash London who plays for Cal Poly San Luis in California, goalkeeper Andrew Nestor who plays for St. Francis in Brooklyn, New York and Anani Mohammed who recently signed with Mexican Second Division team Atalante.
Christopher Nurse
There are two additional surprise call ups in Kai McKenzie Lyle, a 6ft 5 ” goalkeeper who plays for Barnett in the English Division Two and USA-born midfielder Warren Creavalle who plays for the Philadelphia Union in the MLS.
Finland-based Walter Moore along with Adrian Butters, Jake Newton, Samuel Cox, Brandon Beresford and UK-based striker Marcel Barrington complete a list of 13 foreign-based players while eight locally-based players including Alpha United FC’s Alex Murray, Colin Nelson Dwight Peters, Daniel Wilson, Pernel Schultz and Anthony “Awo” Abrams and Slingerz’s standout Vurlon Mills and Elite League MVP Trayon Bobb complete the twenty-two.
The squad is to be trimmed to 20 but Coach Shabazz has decided to await the arrival of a host of overseas-based players on the weekend and will announce the final squad after sessions with his full unit on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Golden Jaguars Head Coach stated “There is no time to cry or complain over what should or did not happen regarding our preparation. It’s all about approaching the job with a positive mindset and giving of our best to get the result.” “The thing I love about football is when you have your full squad bonded, united and ready to go, you kiss your troubles goodbye and look forward to fighting for three points. Instinctively when Jaguars are hungry they have to go and hunt, therefore, if we are hungry for success, the Golden Jaguars too must battle for it,” he added.
Full Golden Jaguars Squad reads;
Goalkeepers: Kai McKenzie, Lyle Andrew Nestor and Alex Murray
Defenders: Jake Newton, Samuel Cox, Quincy Adams, Walter Moore, Adrian Butters, Colin Nelson and Anani Mohammed.
Midfielders: Dwight Peters, Cash London, Trayon Bobb, Christopher Nurse, Brandon Beresford, Warren Creavalle, Daniel Wilson and Kevin Beaton
Strikers: Anthony “Awo” Abrams, Vurlon Mills, Marcel Barrington and Pernel Schultz
