Newly appointed Golden Jaguars head coach Denzil Thompson said the aim of his technical staff will be towards the long term development of the future national senior side and not simply competing at the 2014 CFU championships.
Speaking in an exclusive interview Thompson said: “It’s not about being pleased because our players are not pro players, so we have to develop, shape and mould the minds of them. I am here as the national coach with a technical staff to develop, to shape and mould the minds of the future national players because this is a developmental programme for the young players for the next four years.”
Thompson was recently named head coach of the national senior football team which will compete in this year’s Caribbean Football Union competition by the Guyana Football federation (GFF).
“It is a development aspect. We are looking to develop the players for the next four years. It’s not just about CFU, it’s bigger than CFU but we are starting somewhere. We are preparing not just for CFU but for the future.”
The national senior squad recently commenced training under Thompson’s guidance and asked about the player turnout at the sessions Thompson said: “We are having numbers at training sessions.
“We are working on the technical and tactical aspect of the game pertaining to match like situations competitive form,” he said when quizzed about the team’s preparations.
“We are also working on the endurance level of the team because the team preparation that we are doing is high endurance intensity training that is to say when we play, we are playing with the concept that we will dictate the pace of the game with our high endurance level.”
He said the players are also undergoing strength training.
“We also do one day strength training that is circuit training and we will have one cross country run that is six to eight kilometres to check to see the high endurance level of the team.
“To play games requires these types of training. If you don’t do these types of training you are wasting time and things won’t work out,” he added.
Questioned about the chemistry within the squad, Thompson said: “We would not get the meshing of the players yet but a development of the team. The meshing will come when tactics are taught. At present we are doing the technical and tactical aspect.
“In the tactical aspect we are doing a lot of small-side games preparing them for the formation system of play. The technical aspect is where we sharpen their technical skills,” he said.
The group stage of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Cup which commences on September 1, pits Guyana in Group Six with likes of hosts St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Dominica.
Guyana is scheduled to open its campaign on September 3 against Dominica. They will then faceoff with St. Lucia two days later and will end their campaign on September 7 against the home side.
The resulting top four teams of the tourney will qualify for the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup automatically while the fifth place team will play a playoff match against the fifth place team from the 2014 Copa Centro Americana tournament.
The overall winner of the tournament will then qualify for the Copa América Centenario event. This tourney is a 16-team affair which features national teams from the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF region slated to be held in the United States in 2016.
The winner of the 2015 Gold Cup will then faceoff with the 2013 edition champion United States in a play-off matchup for the right to represent the region in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
