The Golden Jaguars chances of getting past St Vincent and the Grenadines in their FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifiers received a timely boost yesterday when four England-based players were granted citizenship paving the way for their inclusion in the team for tomorrow’s return leg at the Providence National Stadium.
The Golden Jaguars and St Vincent and the Grenadines drew-2-2 at the Arnos Vale Ground on Wednesday when the Guyana team was without the four England based stars who were unable to acquire their travel documents in time for the match.
“The approval of citizenship for the players is now in the hands of newly appointed Attorney General Basil Williams. Following consultation with Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix, it was recommended that the matter be looked at by the Attorney General who would further advise on the processing of the documents,” the GFF had stated in the release advising the media of the inability of the four players to travel with the team to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The matter, however, seems to be settled as, according to a press release from the GFF yesterday, the four players Neil Danns, Matthew Briggs, Marcel Barrington and Sam Cox duly received their Guyana passports.
“We’re happy that we can now focus on getting the job done on Sunday and not have to worry if we’ll be able to play or not,” Danns, the Bolton Wanderers’ midfield maestro said.
“I’m glad that we finally got our documents. I was worried because we signed on to the programme to help build and push Guyana’s football to the highest level and to not play in the first game was a major disappointment. It’s nice to finally put my mind on Sunday’s game and get the result we need to advance to the next round of the World Cup Qualifiers, ” added Briggs, the youngest player to ever feature in an English Premier League game (16 years and 65 days old with Fulham).
The now 24 year-old Briggs also pointed out that he was happy that players like Cox and 19 year-old English Premier League side Leicester’s forward Barrington would be able to get their first International Cap.
The GFF Marketing and Communication Director Rawle Toney said that the Federation was “happy that the Government of Guyana was able to issue the players their documents in a timely manner and the GFF is grateful for their support in helping the Golden Jaguars in their quest to Russia 2018.”
