A tremendous achievement for the nation

Guyana Football Federation [GFF] President Wayne Forde says that the Golden Jaguars historic qualification for the CONCACAF Gold Cup is a monumental achievement for the entire nation.

Speaking at the post match press conference following the side’s hard-fought win over Belize on Saturday, the visibly overjoyed Forde said, “We must recognize that this is a symbolic, tremendous accomplishment for Guyana. First and foremost when we go and play in the Gold Cup, they are probably 40 million people on this planet that will hear the name Guyana for the first time and for me that is the point that we need to emphasize so I don’t pay any attention to the narratives that we try to tie ourselves to whether someone was born here or not.”

“The fact that our guys are willing to come and wear the badge with honour and distinction is a privilege and we are happy that they came out here tonight and gave 100 percent and brought us over the line,” he added. Guyana earned their maiden berth in the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup after defeating Belize 2-1 in their final CONCACAF Nations League Qualifier at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora. It was the second ever meeting of the nations. The Golden Jaguars ended their campaign on nine points, thus finishing in the top 10 automatic qualifiers for the prestigious confederation championship, set to commence in June.

“I would like to recognize the tremendous effort of the boys tonight. They started off a little nervy but we saw they got into the game and they gave it their all. I would also like to congratulate Coach Mike [Johnson] and his team, they have been doing an extraordinary job with the team.

“I don’t think we realize quite often that this is the fourth game that these guys have been playing together, some of them this is their first game so we have a lot of time and work and I am actually pleased that some of the media representatives here are interested in the future but I think Coach Mike is correct in saying that give us time, there is a lot happening and a bunch of emotions everyone is coping with and I am sure in the not so distant future we will be able to speak in more specific terms about the future and about plans and preparations.

Forde said despite qualifying for the Gold Cup, there was still a lot of work to do.

“We have actually given ourselves a lot of work to do, we have to get to work immediately and start planning for what we have to do for the next couple of months when we get into the Gold Cup.”