Guyana’s Golden Jaguars will clash with St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Sunday at the Blairmont Community Development Centre ground in West Berbice as the local football squad kick starts its journey with the destination being the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
While Sunday’s clash is a warm-up for both teams there will be a lot at stake for the Guyanese who will be looking to avenge a 2-0 loss to the “Vincy Heat” in the Digicel Football Cup finals in Trinidad and Tobago last year.
Technical Director of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Jamal Shabbazz, said yesterday that the Golden Jaguars were looking forward to the game on home soil at the start of a long road for the local players over the next few months.
The Vincentians are currently ranked 101 while Guyana is at 128 in FIFA’s current ranking sliding from an impressive 100 due to inactivity following a successful campaign in the 2006-2007 Digicel Caribbean Cup.
Shabbazz said that following Sunday’s match, the squad will travel to the twin-island republic for a training camp and will play the Grenada national team while there.
The squad will then travel to Antigua/Barbuda for a match against the Antiguans and then visit St. Vincent for a return clash before returning to Trinidad to continue training, Shabbazz disclosed.
He said when the team returned to Guyana there was likely to be a clash against Honduras before the team squares off against the Cuban national team.
“This is the type of preparation we need,” Shabbazz said yesterday.
The current inclement weather has affected the team’s preparation as the squad has been turned away from most of the grounds.
Training got into stride last Tuesday morning under tough conditions at the National Park then the training switched to the Better Hope ground on Wednesday.
However, while conditions have improved at the National Park the ground is still in a soggy state..
Twenty seven players are currently in training and it is expected that the squad will be trimmed to 18 by this afternoon for Sunday’s match.
Experienced defender Charles `Lily’ Pollard, who led the team last year has retained his captaincy.
A member of the Technical staff told Stabroek Sport that the squad will overnight in Berbice on Saturday but the coaching staff will be in Berbice on Saturday morning to conduct clinics for coaches and players in the Ancient County.
Meanwhile, The St. Vincent and the Grenadines team is due to arrive in Guyana today for the encounter
The match is billed to kick off at 15:00 h.
The 27 players in training are: (goalkeepers)Richard Reynolds, Andrew Durant, Sean Johnson,(defenders) Charles Pollard, Howard Lowe, Carey Harris, Walter Moore, Devon Dummett, Selwyn Isaacs, Troy Prescod, Kelvin McKenzie, Kester Jacobs, Orlando Gilgeous, (midfielders) Kyode McKinnon, Seon Cameron, Sean Bishop, Omali Nassy, Kanata Manning, Dwayne Jacobs, Pearce Joseph, Eddie Gomes, Quancy Johnson, Jerome Richardson (forwards) Gregory Richardson, Collie Hercules, Nigel Codrington, Anthony Abrams.
The technical staff: Jamal Shabbazz – Technical director, Wayne Dover, Kavin Pearce (coaches), Frank Parris, Rawle Adams (managers) and Lindley Longhorn.
