Former Golden Jaguar international Vurlon Mills says that the decision by Concacaf to reschedule the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers to March 2021, was in the best interest of Caribbean nations, who would have struggled financially to encamp and prepare their respective teams during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport. According to the Fruta Conquerors midfielder, funding of respective camps for preparation would be difficult for many of the Caribbean countries due to the ongoing health crisis.
He added, “I think it was the best decision that CONCACAF could have made at this time given the fact that they understand the teams from the Caribbean would struggle in terms of funding during this Covid-19 situation to get their players into training camps. If we look around the Caribbean, only Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have a professional system and setup and would be able to have many of their players in training, in other parts of the Caribbean that wouldn’t be possible or wouldn’t work well given the Covid-19 pandemic. It is very difficult at the moment and CONCACAF made the right decision as it would be hard on teams to have their players together in the current situation due to the quarantine regulations and the travel restrictions.”
CONCACAF, following discussions with FIFA, has opted to reschedule the World Cup Qualifiers which was initially slated to commence during the month of October. Guyana was drawn in group-F in the first stage of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers. The Golden Jaguars were placed with traditional rival Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
They were slated to commence their path to Qatar on October 8th away to Trinidad and Tobago. Slated to follow was a home fixture against Bahamas on the 13th. Meanwhile, the Golden Jaguars were pegged to compete in November away to St. Kitts and Nevis on the 13th before concluding against Puerto Rico on home soil four days later.
Upon the conclusion of the first round, the second Stage will consist of the respective group winners facing off in a home and away series. The eventual victors will advance to the final round which will consist of eight teams. Following the conclusion of the final round, the top three teams will qualify to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The fourth placed finisher will contest the Confederation Playoff.
Meanwhile, Mills, 32, noted that the current situation presents a severe handicap to the locally based players, as they are currently inactive following months of dormancy in the football fraternity.
According to the former Slingerz FC talisman, the decision to reschedule by the local confederation has impacted the momentum that was being built by the program, especially with regards the increasing composition of the locally based contingent within the programme.
He added, “I think it’s a big disadvantage for the locally based players who will be on the squad because no one is active at the moment. If we were to select a national team right now, I would only be fair to select the overseas based players and if we are looking at development and don’t have local players a part of the squad, then we are not talking about development. Given the fact that we are not in camp and we are not training it’s a big disadvantage for them. I think it’s a major setback, we have now started to build momentum and have more locals into the national program so it’s a major setback for the program.”
Guyana’s best showing in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers occurred in the 2014 edition, as they romped to the third stage of qualifying. This is the penultimate section of the confederation’s qualification process.
