The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is continuing its frenetic “Wear Yellow” campaign, encouraging locals to flaunt this colour as the Golden Jaguars embark on their quest to top Group B when they face Trinidad and Tobago, on Friday at the Guyana National Stadium.
The Jaguars, unbeaten in their first four matches against Barbados and Bermuda, are on the verge of qualifying for the secondround of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and must win their first game to ensure they go through.
Guyana has a good chance of emerging atop of the group and at the press conference acting GFF President Franklin Wilson and Head Coach Jamal Shabbaz Muhammad said that Guyanese should come out in their numbers, as Friday could be the start of something special for Guyanese football.
“We are reiterating to the Guyanese public to be the 12th man, we are asking that they pack the national stadium to support the team big time, by wearing yellow in their thousands on Friday. Trinidad is bringing at least 300 vocal spectators, so we need to make the atmosphere a true home fixture” Wilson said in the conference room of the Radisson Hotel in Queenstown yesterday.
Coach Shabbaz while echoing the comments by Wilson went further, pushing back on comments in recent days about the amount of foreign-born players present in the national side. “Players are Guyanese whether they were born in Madrid or Linden, so people need to put rest to this kind of rhetoric since all the players present want to make the Golden Jaguars proud and I hope this is the last I have to speak on this matter”, said Shabbaz firmly.
He continued passionately:“Right now is time for the country to unite behind this team, since a victory on Friday can put this team on the map in the football world. The Trinidad team although we lead the group, still doesn’t believe this Guyana team is that good, so we intend to show them what we are made of, but we need the local fans to pack the National Stadium and make it a hostile atmosphere” for the Trinidadians.
When asked by Stabroek Sport how he felt about teams basically going into the games against opponents blindly, given that no video footage to analyze the opposition’s past matches are available, Shabbaz highlighted the positive and negatives of this issue.
“Most definitely it is a problem and I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t, since in basically all the other confederations around the world … such material (is) available so that coaches can prepare better for matches”, Shabbaz stated.
“However, as I mentioned before, given that Trinidad would be coming here as a Caribbean powerhouse, I think it is them who would need such analysis of our team, since they do not know about our foreign players much”, Shabbaz further explained.
“But overall, my philosophy and vision to players in general would be to impose our strengths on Friday, since all through the group stage this has been a problem and for these final two games, we have to deal with it”
Also present at the press conference were the Golden Jaguars, English-born captain Chris Nurse and talented left-back Walter Moore. Both players promised a passionate performance on Friday, while suggesting the entire team believes that this is their time to shine.
Wilson thanked the Government of Guyana and corporate sponsors such as Bakewell, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T), Banks DIH Limited and Humphrey’s Bakery for their support throughout the tournament.
Tickets for the game go on sale today at the Kashif and Shanghai office for $1000, while the Golden Jaguar T-Shirts cost $1500. However, if patrons purchase the ticket and T-Shirt together, they will pay a total of $2000.
Guyana’s 21-man squad is as follows: Chris Nurse (Captain), Gregory Richardson, Walter Moore, Jake Newton, Ronson Williams, Charles Pollard, Anthony Benfield, Vurlon Mills, Kayode McKinnon, Dwain Jacobs, Travis Grant, Taylor Benjamin, Julian Edwards, Richard Reynolds, Alani Mounter, Dwight Peters, Ricky Shakes, Leon Cort, Carl Cort, Shawn Beveney, Chris Bourne. Coach; Jamal Shabbaz, Manager; Mark Xavier.
