Dear Editor,
The dust has settled and the Guyana Male National Football Team has been eliminated from the 2016 Scotia Bank Caribbean Cup qualifiers. Coach Jamaal Shabazz is set to resign. Will Coach Wayne Dover be given the chance to return as the national coach for the third time to lead Guyana to historic moments again?
Coach Dover was appointed national coach of Guyana in 2009 for the second time and immediately led the national team to victory in an international mini-tournament in Suriname, who were celebrating their Independence that year. The tournament was named Independence Cup. Suriname, French Guiana, Curacao and Guyana took part. Guyana won all three games by a 1 goal margin to lift the Ronald Venetian, the then President of Suriname, trophy.
Dover was retained as national coach for the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup and led the team in round one in Suriname, topping the group with three wins against Suriname, Curacao and St Lucia, where the team qualified for the second round in Trinidad and Tobago, in a group with Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Vincent.
Guyana qualified as the second place team in that group and moved on to the quarter-final of the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup in Martinique of that year where they faced Jamaica, Antigua and Guadeloupe. That year Guyana ranked it’s highest ever in its history, with 86.
This excellent performance by Dover should be looked at seriously for consideration of him being re-hired as national coach by the President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde. This young talented Guyanese coach has excelled over the years with club and country and deserves the recognition.
Respectfully,
Mark Xavier
Former Senior Male
National Team Manager
