The Golden Jaguars U20 National football team departed local shores yesterday morning to compete in the prestigious 2021 Concacaf U20 Qualifiers scheduled for November 5 to 14 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The team departed at 2:00 am from the Cheddi Jagan International airport for Panama enroute to the Dominican Republic. They are scheduled to open their Group-D campaign on Saturday against the Cayman Islands at 16:00hrs.
They will then lock horns with the US Virgin Islands at 15:00hrs on Monday November 8, before concluding their pool campaign on November 10 against Nicaragua at 18:00hrs.
The 20 member roster reads: Goalkeepers – Ronaldo Blair, Grant Wyles, and Joshua Naraine; Defenders – Kehance Scott, Devon Padmore, Jerome Harrigan, Sealon Sue, Brandon Solomon, and Alexander Davidson; Midfielders – Kyon Alphonso, Kevin Mullin, Darron Niles, Ofancy Winter, Solomon Austin, and Nathaniel Pydana, and Forwards – Keenan Happer, Yohance Douglas, Perry Gaul Jr, Omari Glasgow, and Ravi Coates.
The technical staff which is headed by Wayne Dover, comprises Assistant Coaches, Charles Pollard and Anthony Benfield; Goalkeeper Coach, Eon DeVeira; Head of Sports Science, Wilson Toledo; Team Doctor, Koko Sandiford; Physiotherapist Pablinho Cupido; Team Manager, Daniel Thomas; Equipment Manager, Trevor Burnett; and Communications Officer Keeran Williams.
Meanwhile, in Group-A, the teams are British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, and Sint Maarten, while Group-B comprises Anguilla, Belize, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, and Saint Martin. Group-C consists of Barbados, Bermuda, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to an official release from the regional confederation, “Following the conclusion of the Qualifiers, 20 teams will participate in the 2022 CMU20 Championship. This will include the top four teams from the Qualifiers and the region’s 16 top ranked men’s U-20 teams who have received a bye to the Championship.”
The release also stated, “At the conclusion of the Championship, the finalists (two teams) will qualify for the FIFA Men’s U-20 World Cup Indonesia 2023 and 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games. The two losing semifinalists (two teams) will also guarantee their participation in the FIFA Men’s U-20 World Cup Indonesia 2023. The 2022 CMU20 Championship Group Stage will be played in the summer of 2022. Further details will be announced at a later date.”
Guyana competed in the 2018 and 2020 versions of the event. In the 2020 version which featured a qualifying section, Guyana defeated Montserrat 6-0, SVG 3-0 and the USVI 2-0. Their only defeat came at the hands of the higher ranked hosts Nicaragua via a 1-0 score line which sealed their exit from the competition.
The 2018 tournament, which was hosted in the United States of America, did not feature a qualifying tournament. (All of the 34 entrants were guaranteed a minimum of four matches. Seven countries did not participate).
The Golden Jaguars finished the tournament with a record of one win and three losses. Guyana defeated El Salvador 2-0, but lost to Guatemala (0-4), Cayman Islands (2-3), and Curaçao (3-4).
