The Golden Jaguars, the Guyana men’s senior football team arrived in Antigua & Barbuda yesterday to commence a training camp on their path to their final destination of St. Kitts and Nevis to resume their 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
This is according to a release from the GFF.
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) was rushed into making last minute plans to use Antigua and Barbuda as its training base after the St. Kitts and Nevis authorities informed that the team will not be permitted to arrive in that country until June 2 for the June 4 game on the advice of their National COVID-19 Task Force. The Golden Jaguars, who were scheduled to travel on May 29 to St. Kitts and Nevis, will now arrive there on June 2.
GFF President Wayne Forde said, “We are extremely grateful to the authorities and our football colleagues in Antigua and Barbuda for facilitating this encampment, so that the Golden Jaguars can prepare properly as a unit before these vital fixtures.”
He added, “We wish the players and staff all the best in training over the coming days, and for the challenge that lies ahead. These two matches – and results elsewhere – will decide our FIFA World Cup fate. We are still in the running, and we know that the support of the whole nation will make a huge difference for the players. Let’s roar with the Jags in June.”
Meanwhile, Head Coach Marcio Maximo said, “We’ve selected players that we see are in fully professional environments overseas because we want players that will really add something to the domestic group, as well as mostly young players that are at a high level.”
He added, “That is why we made some changes to the non-domestic group, and also in the domestic group, because competition should be there continuously to grow a strong group and to guarantee the present and the future of Guyana’s football.”
Guyana plays Saint Kitts and Nevis at 4 pm local time on June 4, and Puerto Rico at 4 pm local time on June 8t. Both will be staged in the Leeward Island nation.
The Golden Jaguars full squad reads: Goalkeepers – Akel Clarke, Kai McKenzie-Lyle, and Shawn Adonis; Defenders – Miguel Scarlett, Matthew Briggs, Liam Gordon, Terrence Vancooten, Nicholas Andrews, Bayli-Spencer Adams, and Kevin Layne; Midfielders – Nathan Morian-Welsh, Javier George, Daniel Wilson, Job Caesar, Marcus Wilson, and Pernell Schultz; and Forwards – Stephen Duke-McKenna, Keanu Marsh-Brown, Omari Glasgow, Kelsey Benjamin, Osafo Simpson, Trayon Bobb, and Emery Welshman.
Notable absentees from the squad are: long-serving captain Sam Cox, Anthony Jeffrey, Callum Harriott, Terrell Ondaan, and Neil Danns. Reasons for their exclusion were not given by the federation.
The management team is led by head-coach Marcio Maximo, with Charles Pollard and Eon DeVieira serving as Assistant and Goalkeeper Coach respectively.
Kojo Sandiford and Quacy Paddy are the team doctor and lead physiotherapist respectively while Pablino Cupido, Wilson Toledo, and Faizal Khan, will serve as the team medic, head of sports science, and head of recruitment, respectively.
Rawle Adams, Naseya Brewster, Trevor Burnett, and Keeran Williams, are the team operations, assistant team operations, equipment, and media officer correspondingly.
The Golden Jaguars ended the first round of the qualifiers with a record of one win and a defeat, following an opening 3-0 loss to Caribbean heavyweight Trinidad and Tobago on March 25, and a 4-0 victory against lowly The Bahamas.
Presently, the Guyanese sit in third place on three points, trailing St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago who possess six and four points respectively. Only the group winner will progress to the second stage of the qualifiers.
