Marcio Maximo, Head-coach of the Golden Jaguars senior men’s team, said yesterday that the hope is to commence national team preparation within the next 14 days for the important FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, penciled in for March 2021.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to Maximo, “The situation is not ideal, we are waiting for results of the examination before training as we have to follow the protocols. We would start in small groups. We have already planned myself and assistant [Wilson] Tolido. I hope in two weeks that we can get to start training in small groups because we can’t do much contact. Hopefully everything normalizes soon so we can start training.”
Marcio disclosed that a period of two months while not perfect, can provide a sufficient preparation window for the team heading into the important tournaments, adding that the programme is eyeing the possibility of contesting an international fixture in February 2021 before their first World Cup Qualifier in March.
He elaborated, “Two months can give us good preparation to get the sharpness and hopefully we can have one friendly in February FIFA date before the first match in the World Cup Qualifiers. If everything comes normal then we can but you never know because it’s a strange situation. We hope to play one friendly before it’s not ideal but we hope to.”
The Guyanese were drawn in group-F in the first stage of the Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers, a pool which contains traditional rival Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
Maximo conceded that the lack of a structured timeline for preparation owing to the global pandemic is concerning, adding, “Of course you are worried, but you have to adapt to the reality and the situation. It’s a global problem not only for sports. We will have to do our preparation in this situation. If we get two months and can start training in the next 10 days then we can prepare and it won’t create a big problem and the international players are training.”
However, despite the prevailing health crisis and continued dormancy of the local game, Maximo affirmed that the philosophy of the men’s programme should be maintained which gives both local and international players equal opportunity to feature at the highest level.
“We need to follow the principles of the programme and give equal chance to the locals. I am not pro local or pro international, I am pro Guyana and we should give equal chance to both groups. Of course it affects the locals but we need to evaluate under each reality and I can’t predict at the moment.”
According to Maximo, all decisions regarding the composition of the team will be deliberated on and eventually made after analyzing the players during the impending training sessions, adding that conclusions cannot be drawn until that period due to the present climate.
“Our decision will be based on the reality of the moment, I hope that we can start normal training with everyone together but we have to respect the protocols, after that hopefully everything normalizes. I prefer to analyze the actual conditions, next two months I can tell you about the team, it’s difficult to answer now in this situation”, Marcio said.
Brazilian Máximo was appointed as the Interim Head-Coach for the 2019-2020 CONCACAF Nations League effective August 21st 2019, after incumbent Michael Johnson officially tendered his resignation from the post effective on August 13th. Johnson, who was appointed to the helm of the local program last June, oversaw the team’s maiden campaign and 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification.
Maximo possesses over 30 years of knowledge at the national and club levels and is the holder of a CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation) Pro License.
