The Guyana Football Federation [GFF] officially launched its ‘Roar to the Gold Cup’ Football Extravaganza yesterday at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, ahead of their must-win CONCACAF Nations League clash with Belize.
Speaking at the launch, GFF President Wayne Forde declared, “We are going to prevail on March 23rd and at the end of that 90 minutes we will have a resounding party all across this nation.”
Guyana will face-off will with the Central American unit on March 23rd at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora at 18:30hrs in a pivotal fixture.
A victory in the aforesaid clash will seal Guyana’s berth to their maiden CONCACAF Gold Cup Championship.
According to Forde, “From a footballing perspective, this is a massive, massive game. We believe that we will prevail; we’re doing absolutely everything to prepare our players to prevail. We’re making available every bit of resource that the coaching staff and the players need to deliver on that occasion.”
He added, “It will be two countries represented by 22 players over a period of 90 minutes, and we’re doing everything within our power to prevail at the end of that 90 minutes. Now why am I emphasizing that point? It is because in the world of football, the host nation usually has a unique advantage, and that is to have a 12th person in the game, and that 12th person takes the shape of the fans.
“So I want to use this opportunity to encourage all of Guyana- every class, every creed, every race, every social strata- to come out and be a boisterous 12th man for our Golden Jaguars on March 23”, he declared.
Forde emphasized on the significance of the match, adding, “This game has tremendous potential for the growth of our programmes locally and for the opportunities for our players. We are poised similarly to Belize on six points; every country that is participating in the Concacaf Nations League would be paying attention to the outcome of that game; every fan that has been supporting this competition over the past couple of months would be looking at that game, because the outcome of that game will determine the pecking order for the rest of the Gold Cup season, and also for the seeding of teams for the 2019 version of the Concacaf Gold Cup.”
GFF Technical Director Ian Greenwood stated that the country is on the precipice of greatness, declaring that only 90 minutes separate the team from attaining a landmark achievement in sealing their inaugural berth to international tournament.
Also, the Federation recognised several of its initial corporate partners for the upcoming game at Thursday’s function. They include Hits and Jams, 93.1 Real FM, MAAD 97.5 FM, KFC, the National Milling Company and Pegasus Hotel.
