“We’re still in the race,” says Head Coach Marcio Maximo

World Cup 2022

By Jemima Holmes

With two more games to go in the first stage of their World Cup 2022 qualifying quest, Golden Jaguars Head Coach Marcio Maximo was as cool as a cucumber as he highlighted that the National team are still ‘in the race’.
Soon after their return to Guyana from the Dominican Republic, where they played to a 3-0 loss against Trinidad and Tobago and a 4-0 victory against the Bahamas, the Senior Men’s National Football team got back to training locally in preparation for the second leg of the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Now, two weeks away from their encounters with St. Kitts and Nevis and Puerto Rico, Head Coach Marcio Maximo is quite optimistic about Guyana’s chances of qualifying.
“We are very progressed in the local team and the overseas group. We are still proposing to renew both groups to put team in more intense and competitive place. We’re still in the race, because we lose the first match but we recover in the second match. I think that we are in normal process,” the Golden Jags Head Coach posited during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport on Monday.
“The place is still open, because the three teams have chances – St Kitts, Trinidad and Guyana,” Maximo added.
The locally based players, along with some young international faces, are currently training at the GFF facility at Providence.
According to the Coach, he has been impressed by the commitment and competitiveness of the bunch.
The Head Coach boasted, “The training here continues to be very intensive training. The guys show beautiful commitment, and I hope that they continue to fight for places until the last round, is our target.”
When probed by this publication about whether or not he has noticed improvements in the group, the Head Coach answered in the affirmative.
“It’s a lot! A lot! Because we renewed the local programme many times, but now we have players that are used to it. Players that are 22, 21 years old coming back to the programme, I think that maintains our future,” Maximo answered.
While admitting that he has a strategy for tackling St Kitts, who currently lead Group F, Maximo shared that he is still focused on maintaining a balance between development and competitiveness when the Jags hit the playing field.
“The strategy will always be competitive. You know, in our first game, we didn’t play competitive, the second match we renewed and recovered, and we played competitive. But like I told you, it’s a development process, that’s sometimes normal in this process,” the Head Coach shared, emphasizing his usual mantra, “It’s necessary to talk to the people that we’re preparing the foundation of Guyana football. We prepare the future of Guyana football but we don’t forget the present. Guyana is always a good representative in the competitions, but in the same way, you should renew to guarantee it.”
The Golden Jaguars are scheduled to battle St Kitts on Friday June 4 and Puerto Rico on Tuesday June 8 at venues ‘to be confirmed’. As previously mentioned, St Kitts and Nevis are the Group leaders with 6 points drawn from 2 wins in 2 games. A win against Guyana and a draw against Puerto Rico set Trinidad and Tobago at second with 4 points, while Guyana sits at third with a win and a loss. Puerto Rico is fourth with 1 point, following a loss and a draw, while the Bahamas are yet to register a point after two losses.
While each team has two games to play in the second leg, it is unclear whether Trinidad’s fielding of an illegal player would interfere with the current standings.