With the Golden Jaguars management team exploring the idea of contesting an international friendly before the March 21st start of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, former national stalwart Kayode McKinnon, says that a one off match is far from ideal as preparation for the competition.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport. According to the former Topp XX midfield dynamo, “I think everyone would agree one game is not enough based on many factors.
“We need to strongly consider the cognitive and physical demands placed on players to perform at a high level with consistency. The elite level in Concacaf are doing 6/8 months cycles to be ready and they are on our pathway to the World Ccup. So, it would really need players that play week in and week out at the highest level possible on the national team at best for this first round of matches.”
He added, “We need time to experience and assess so we can truly evaluate and make the necessary adjustments for fruitful next steps. This must be something on our minds going forward based on the level of competition within our region and hopefully, we can get the resources needed to truly fund our process to the elite level.”
Head-coach Marcio Maximo had initially disclosed that the management team was exploring the possibility of staging the international encounter during the month of February ahead of the first FIFA World Cup Qualifier. The Guyanese have been 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.
“I think I would be more interested in knowing what was the developmental process in the down time to arrive to this point. This will help me better understand the goals and what benefits can be achieved. On the other hand, that would mean doors for new players/players with potential coming in are very slim, unless those players are playing at an elite level since one game cannot determine if a player can really influence the result in a high-performance environment. Likewise, the team cannot perform to their optimal level from a pure football perspective,” he said.
Asked if he was satisfied with the direction of the programme, McKinnon disclosed, “No. Hopefully we can acquire resources. I think the next generation need to compete more rather than participate.”
According to McKinnon, the process of testing players for the Covid-19 virus in preparation for training needs to be encompassing and structured to ensure the overall safety of the group.
He said that the isolation of the training contingent should be considered as an avenue to safeguard the well-being of those involved in the preparation process.
McKinnon elaborated, “I believe the testing should be mandatory to make sure all the players, the players’ families and all involved in this process are safe. I think they can enhance the monitoring system by making sure that the individual self-checks in the initial stage at home before coming into contact with others to be checked or add a questionnaire to check for signs and symptoms prior to coming into the environment and finally isolate the group to be sure.”
