Jags’ “Train And Play” in Brazil attracts top complement

CONCACAF Nations League Countdown…

As Guyana prepares for its first match of the CONCACAF Nations League in September, Guyana’s senior men’s national team, commonly known as the Golden Jaguars, will benefit from the most comprehensive and experienced technical staff Guyana’s national football has ever had, during the “Train and Play” scheduled for August 12-26 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The 17-man staff includes the Head Coach, Senior Coach, Goalkeeper Coach, Team Doctor, Head of Sports Science, Head of Recruitment and Player Liaison, Head of People and Culture, Performance Analyst and Head Scout, Development Coaches and operations staff.
Head Coach Michael Johnson said a qualified staff is critical to the achievement of the GFF (Guyana Football Federation) national programme’s goals.
“This comprehensive technical team is vitally important for the Nations League campaign; we are pushing the boundaries to keep up to date with modern football trends and compete with regional and international competition. The Guyana-based Development Coaches are there on merit by excelling in recent CONCACAF/FIFA coaching courses as well as their work at various clubs and ATCs. In Brazil, they will be mentored as part of their Coach Education, but ultimately will have to prove their potential within the coaching staff, with the ultimate goal of taking the knowledge back into their own coaching contexts.”
Johnson added that a top-class support staff was also necessary to “develop, inspire, and motivate not only the team but the nation.”
Technical Director Ian Greenwood said a “machinery of excellence” was being developed for the senior national programme: “The high-quality professionals that complement the staffing structure are all vital cogs to the machinery of excellence as we look to develop a vibrant and successful senior national team programme. Their primary focus is working to achieve the short, medium, and long-term targets of the GFF, but their expertise and added value of mentoring in areas of sports science, performance analysis, sports medicine, coaching methodology will significantly improve the national team programme at youth levels.”
GFF President Wayne Forde, for his part, said this staff structure served as a solid platform to realise greater success among the senior national team: “While we are laying in place a solid youth development foundation that will definitely evolve in the coming years, it is of critical importance that we build the senior national team’s management structure to support and maximise the performance of those players that emerge from the Youth development structure.
“The transfer of knowledge and expertise is a key objective in the selection of the national team staff. Our collaboration with Brazil will also buttress our capacity-building targets. We have to be humble, patient and open to learning new and modern principles and methodologies.”
The “Train and Play” is a national encampment of senior footballers as part of the preparation for the CONCACAF Nations League.
Guyana have 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.