Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Christopher Matthias said despite Guyana’s failure to qualify for the second round of the CFU Caribbean Qualification Cup he is pleased with the team’s performance in their first international outing.
Guyana failed to qualify for the second round of the CFU Caribbean Cup after finishing in the third position with one point and a goal difference of -4 in Group-6 hosted in St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN). The host nation topped the group with seven points and a goal difference of +7.
Occupying the runners-up position with seven points and a goal difference of +4 was St. Lucia while Dominica finished in the cellar with one point and a goal difference of -6.
Speaking in an exclusive interview following the team’s return, Matthias said: “We at the GFF are happy with the performance of the team at its first outing. The fact that the evidence revealed that basically each team which we would have played, fielded professional players and our young Jaguars were able at first instance to limit their scoring ability, is indicative of the raw talent we have which respectfully needs to be developed in a structured way.”
Quizzed if the lack of professional and/or overseas-based players hindered the team’s performance, he said:” I am not so sure. We have evidence where Alpha United, a professional team, a team that supposedly spent 21 million dollars on foreign players and in three games 11 goals were scored against them. 21 million dollars and had eight foreign professional players in the starting lineup.
“Kudos then must be given to our young Jaguars for their performance in what could be considered hostile territory in St. Kitts and Nevis. We are happy with the team’s performance, we know they will improve once they continue to play together.
“We intend for them to play as often as possible both locally and internationally in a structured environment, so as to achieve the requisite chemistry and that what took them from 1902 to 2011 to achieve, this team will achieve in four years,” he added.
Asked if overseas-based players will be allowed to feature within the national setup in the future, he said: “The evidence is there. Two overseas players in the form of Walter Moore and Shaquille Agard were in the squad. We are not opposed to overseas players. We have never been. But we will never embark on a programme which is more about result driven namely merely winning as against development driven.”
He declared “The operative phrase is sustainable development or else like our past administrators having spent $161 million in 2010, 165 million in 2011 and 314 million in 2012, the ingredients necessary for football development are totally absent namely qualified coaches, quality players, abundance of resources, and infrastructure.”
Questioned if Denzil `Hunky Brains’ Thompson will be retained at the helm of the Golden Jaguars, Matthias said: “We will continue with Denzil Thompson who is prepared to work as part of a team for Guyana’s football development.
“We would like to thank Connections Travel, Windjammer, Denise Kings from Kings Catering, the executive and management of Fruta Conquerors, CG All Sports Promotions, Milton Brandford of Colours and all the associations who sent their players as well as the Guyanese supporters both in St. Kitts and those who flew across from any of the other islands to lend their support,” he added.
