New faces highlight Slingerz squad as Club Shield prep continues

Less than a month to go before coming up against the best football clubs in the Caribbean region, Slingerz Football Club is working relentlessly to prepare for the Caribbean Football Union’s Club Shield competition.
The Club Shield will see 22 teams from across the region vying for two available spots in the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup.
So committed is the camp to the preparation, the team has been training at 13:30h, the exact time of their first match.

Discussing their preparations, Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz noted his contentment with the competitiveness he has seen in the squad thus far.
“Training just over a month and I think the attitude and effort in the training have been good. We still could do with a couple more players putting their mind in the frame that ‘look, we’re going to play at a higher level’. So, the intensity needs to be great,” Shabazz told Guyana Times Sport exclusively.
He added, “But in saying that, the majority of the players have shown that competitiveness and so far, I’m happy where we are, four to five weeks away from the first game.”
As one would expect, Slingerz has brought in a number of new faces, not just in the player department but also in the coaching staff.
The gaffer divulged the reason behind the acquisitions, “Well, we recognise when we look at the strength of the teams – Mount Pleasant from Jamaica, Robin from Suriname, Prisons FC from Trinidad and Tobago and the team from Turks and Caicos, they all have overseas-based players and in Guyana, the best players, make no mistake, are divided between four clubs – GDF, Western, Police and Slingerz – and then the best young players are with Santos.”
“So, we saw what happened with GDF for the last two seasons, not that we think we’re not capable, but if we have the opportunity to strengthen the team we do and we brought in three players from Africa who have fit in well, we have one player who was playing in the Jamaican league from Colombia,” he further explained.

Among the acquisitions are goalkeepers Akel Clarke and Jamal Cumberbatch on loan while striker Neron Barrow has also joined the outfit. Additionally, the services of Coach Vurlon Mills have also been snapped up on loan.
Focusing on Mills, their temporary coaching acquisition, a former Golden Jaguars and Slingerz player turned Coach, Shabazz talked up his abilities.
“Vurlon is easily one of the top young Coaches and the future of Guyana’s football. I would personally like to see, at the end of August, Vurlon take up this thing and run with it, because my time is coming or has come. I think this tournament gives him the opportunity to work at a higher level, because one of the problems in Guyana football is that the young coaches need to get the first-hand experience on the pitch,” Shabazz opined.
“It’s one thing for us to say they don’t have the experience, but how do they get the experience if they’re not able to get the job? I think that he has brought a lot of enthusiasm, good knowledge especially in the technical/tactical sessions and it’s a joy to see him work. He reminds me so much of working with Samuel Cox. He’s taken a lot of weight off my shoulders.”
Quizzed about his approach to the competition, the gaffer disclosed his intention to ‘cut down big trees’.
He declared, “I have a lot of respect for the opponents because they’re playing in superior leagues, but how often has a small army defeated a big army. In my career with Guyana, we’ve seen this all the time, we’ve been punching over our weight and this is our intention going into the Shield.”
The CFU Club Shield is set for Trinidad and Tobago from July 23 to August 2. Slingerz FC will first battle SWA Sharks FC out of Turks and Caicos Islands in the first round of the competition, a win in which will see them advancing to the Round of 16 to face Prison Service out of Trinidad and Tobago. Other potential oppositions in the tournament for the Guyanese team include Suriname’s SV Robinhood, Jamaica’s Mount Pleasant FC, Antigua’s All Saints United, Aruba’s SV Britannia and Barbados’ Weymouth Wales FC.