A system whereby players are rotated when it comes to international engagements is responsible for the non selection of Golden Jaguars striker Devon Millington for the friendly international between the Guyana senior football team and a Guatemala national side.
So said General Secretary of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Noel Adonis yesterday in response to an article in yesterday’s Stabroek News where the striker’s mother questioned her son’s absence from the match which took place yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia, United Staes of America.
Millington’s mother Denise Somerset had on Tuesday questioned her son’s exclusion from the national side from the tour to the USA and the game against Cray Wanderers which was held earlier this year in London, England.
She had pointed out that the striker has continually been among the goals for Guyana and wondered whether her 25-year-old son was being victimized.
But, according to Adonis, the player’s exclusion has no bearing on his ability to produce.
He told Stabroek Sport yesterday that was the policy of the GFF to give other players in the national side exposure at the highest level.
In a brief telephone interview with this reporter, Adonis said that there are currently 25-30 national footballers, Millington included, who will benefit from the high performance exposure and these players will be rotated depending on the international assignment.
“This (omission) will not detract from Mr. Millington’s abilities as a player; this has nothing to do with Mr. Millington.
“Based on the assignment, the selection process will differ and we are looking to some of the other players on a rotational basis,” Adonis explained.
The General Secretary indicated that this system was part of a holistic developmental programme by the GFF to ensure that all players are given opportunities to perform.
He also stated that the programme also involves the Lady Jaguars, who were recently knocked out in their historic CONCACAF Gold Cup World Cup Qualifiers’ first round.
The programme is being partly run by Colin Baker of the Florida-based Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF).
Today’s game was made possible through a collaborative with an overseas promoter, the GSDF and the GFF.
When questioned on why Millington, who is considered one the country’s better forwards attached to the Beacon United club, was overlooked for the national side’s games against one of the England’s oldest football clubs, Cray Wanderers, earlier this year and now for the game against Guatemala, Adonis reiterated that selection was dependent on the assignment. He assured though that Millington will be merited for selection for the final round of the Digicel Cup.
On the other hand, Adonis pointed out that a component of the development programme is to educate coaches of clubs to adopt the same approach as the GFF. This, he believes, will also auger well for the development of more players in the club structure and therefore coaches will have a wider pool to choose from for tournaments.
The GFF sees this programme as a long term investment and therefore it was a blessing for persons to have questioned why a particular player was left out according to Adonis. He opined that the questioning provided the right forum for the GFF to roll out its developmental plan to improve the standard of the game.
