The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has postponed the planned Fustal six-nation Qualifying tournament which was billed to start in Guyana tomorrow and has moved the event to Trinidad and Tobago because of what was described as unrest in Guyana, sources disclosed yesterday.
The tournament was scheduled for the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and would have attracted Puerto Rico, Haiti, St. Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and hosts Guyana.It was reported that the executive committee of CFU took the decision over the weekend and the tournament will now be held in the twin island republic next month.
Two recent massacres in Lusignan and Bartica that left close to two dozen persons dead were cited as the reason for the postponement and change of venue.
There have been international travel advisories to Guyana from the United States, Britain and Canada following the two incidents.
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has scheduled a Press Conference for today to bring the public up to date on developments in relation to the planned tournament.
Guyana was awarded the rights to host the tournament late last year following the visit here by a CFU inspection team.
The GFF had short listed 16 players last week including British-based goalkeeper Andrew Reading, but it is unclear whether the squad will continue training in light of this new development.
Three-members of the Golden Jaguars national senior Konata Manning, Cary Harris and Shawn Bishop were also named in the squad which is being coached by Joseph Wilson with assistance from Ron Austin and Gavin Brown.
The other players are Llyton Rams, Sceyon Hope, Shemroy Arthur, Lester Peters,Gerald Gritten, Travis Grant, Andy Duke, Stellon David, Eusi Phillips, John Waldron and Delroy Dean.
The six-team Caribbean tournament will qualify two squads to the 2008 CONCACAF Futsal Championship.
The two Caribbean qualifiers will join Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, USA and the host, Guatemala at the 2008 CONCACAF Futsal Championship at the Domo Polideportivo in Guatemala City from 2-8 June.
The CONCACAF Champ-ionship will also progress three teams to the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil from 1-19 October.