The Golden Jaguars Men’s U20 Head Coach, Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover, is optimistic of his team’s chances of progressing from group A in the CONCACAF Qualifying Championship which is slated to be staged in Nicaragua from February 15th-23rd.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport, Dover said, “I am optimistic that we can progress from the group that is based on the quality that I have saw amongst the current lot of players. In modern football we know that all opposition is competitive and we are not writing off anyone based on previous performances. However we will give it our best and try to make this group of players become part of the history of Guyana’s football.”
Guyana will open their group-A campaign against Montserrat on the 15th from 16:30 hrs. In their second fixture, the Guyanese will oppose St. Vincent and the Grenadines two days later at the same venue from 16:30 hrs. This will be followed by an encounter with the US Virgin Islands on the 21st from 20:30 hrs. In their final showdown, the Golden Jaguars will battle the host nation on the 23rd at 20:30 hrs.
Asked about the status of the team’s preparation, Dover said, “At the moment preparation is afoot. We started the preparation on last Wednesday [January 15th] and we establish four days … of preparing the group per week [at the National Training Centre, Providence]. We are four days in and we did three evaluation games to do a general assessment, and one organizational session which will continue until departure of the team.”
He revealed, “The first two evaluation games were amongst ourselves which … evaluated the fitness, the technical ability, as well as the tactical and game understanding and we are satisfied with what we saw over those two games. We also did an 11 vs 11 scrimmage against the senior team which gave us a better idea of the areas that need urgent attention which is mostly to defensive organization which we went straight in our next session. This will continue over the next week before we move into the offensive organization.”
This is Dover’s second stint as the U20 Head Coach under the current administration. Guyana in their previous outing in 2018, ended with a record of one win [El Salvador] and three losses [Guatemala, Curacao and Cayman Islands].
Quizzed about the differences between the two teams, Dover said, “Based on my assessments as the coach of the previous U20 team, I will conclude the previous group was much more talented but unfortunately they did not come through a structure so that made our work very hard to bring them up to the level needed to compete at the championship. However this group shows a better game understanding and technical and tactical discipline and I will credit that to the ATCs that they came through which is a structured programme.”
According to Dover, the team is open to the idea of overseas-based and born players, adding, “The national programmes are always open to players from the Diasporas who meet the requirements to play. However there is a new policy position of the technical department of the GFF that any player aspiring to represent Guyana must make themselves available for the trial period for assessment before the final selection.” Presently, the Guyana Football Federation [GFF] has reduced the initial shortlist of 60 to 27 players.
The qualifying round of the event features 17 teams being divided into four groups. One group will comprise five teams. The top finisher from each group will advance to the knockout round. The other groups are Group B: Dominican Republic, Grenada, Dominica and Anguilla, Group C: Curacao, Guadeloupe, Belize and Saint Martin and Group D: Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands and Barbados.
Meanwhile the remaining 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four in the second round section. The groups are Group E: United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Saint Kitts and Nevis, Group F: Mexico, El Salvador, Canada and Aruba, Group G: Panama, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname and Group H: Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala and Antigua and Barbuda.
The top three finishers from the second round division will progress to the knockout round. According to CONCACAF, “the final stage of the competition (round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal and final) will be played in a single match elimination format, with the semifinalist qualifying to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Indonesia 2021.”
