Guyana’s Golden Jaguars are going almost full strength for their quest to secure a place in the finals of the Digicel Caribbean football Championships when they square off with St. Kitts/Nevis in their opening match in the Group H second round playoff this evening at the Marvin Lee Stadium in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago.
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) announced 20 of their leading players but notable absentee is power forward Nigel “Powers” Codrington who was among the leading goal scorers when Guyana secured a berth in the final playoffs the last time round and had scored Guyana’s lone goal in the World Cup qualifier against nemesis Suriname a few months ago.
No reason was given for Codrington’s absence from the squad which is currently in the twin island republic.
The squad however includes the inform Gregory “Jackie Chan” Richardson, veteran captain Charles “Lilly” Pollard, seasoned campaigner Collie Hercules and United States and British based players Shawn Beveney, John Rodriques and brothers Jake Newton and Howard Newton.
Team officials are confident of the Jaguars advancing to the finals in Jamaica but they will have to contend with the “mighty” Trinidad and Tobago in their Group.
The Trinidadians who are in with an outside chance of securing a place in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa have beaten their Guyanese counterparts three times this year in warm up matches and will be looking to maintain their form at this critical competition.
But Team Manager of the Golden Jaguars Rawle Adams disclosed that his team is in great form and team spirit is extremely high.
“They have a plan to execute and will be going all out to ensure its success,” Adams revealed.
The twenty players named are Richard Reynolds, Andrew Durant, Charles Pollard, Howard Lowe, Kester Jacobs, Walter Moore, Carey Harris, Kayode Mckinnon, Chris Nurse, Howard Newton, Shawn Bishop, Dwight Peters, John ‘jp’ Rodrigues, Dwain Jacobs, Shawn Beveney, Gregory Richardson, Randolph Jerome, Collie Hercules, Jake Newton, and Devon Millington.
The Technical director is Trinidadian Jamaal Shabbazz with Wayne Dover serving as head coach and Kevin Pearce as assistant coach.
The Jaguars will face the St. Kitts and Nevis side this evening at 17:00 hours in the first game of a double header with the home side Trinidad and Tobago battling Antigua/Barbuda in the second encounter at 20:00 hours.
The Jaguars won the first Group stage hosted at the National Stadium at Providence after success against Dominica and Suriname and will now be looking to secure a place in the final for the second time but must capture at least the number one spot or second place .
