The Lady Jaguars will lock horns with Dominica this evening at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora from 8:00 pm in the first round of the Concacaf ‘W’ Championship Qualifiers, which also serves as the pathway for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.
The pre-match press conference which was staged at the Ramada Hotel yesterday was dominated by challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the respective team’s preparatory period.
Head-coach of the Lady Jaguars, Dr. Ivan Joseph, said, “The pandemic has affected us all, whether individually or organizationally and like many of the federations we had to deal with changes, lockdowns and restrictions that impacted our ability to gather, to train, to weightlift and put in exhibition schedules so we used the last few days which we call a minicamp as an opportunity to assess and bring in players and find talent and then select the team. In a perfect world, this would be final tuning, you would have a 23-person roster and be ready to go but everybody has had to deal with the pandemic, it’s not an excuse we can make, it’s a reality that we have to live with.”
Presently, the Lady Jaguars are ranked as the 4th best team in the Caribbean region. However, Joseph dismissed the ranking, expounding, “We are not the fourth-best team right now. We haven’t played as a full-ranked team in three years but our U20 has seen significant improvement. I want to remind folks that we showed up in Puerto Rico and lost 7-1. Rankings are numbers that are made by outsiders that are not there. Every day we have to go and prove that we belong and that we are good enough. Right now, if you ask me if they are 20 or 30 teams, how many teams are there in the Caribbean that is playing football? Count us on the bottom that is where we see ourselves.”
Asked if team chemistry could prove an issue given the makeup of the roster which features several overseas and locally-based players, Joseph conceded, “Always chemistry and coming together is a primary concern of mine. You’re only as effective as the leaders that are on your team, so we got some good leaders and they are doing their part to make sure everyone feels included. Inclusion is an intentional action and our players are being really intentional.”
Meanwhile, Dominica head coach Albert Titre, said, “It has also been a rocky road for us in Dominica, we are facing the COVID pandemic and it’s really challenging for our players in Dominica. We also have our government restrictions so thanks to the Dominica Football Association for contacting the government so that we can get a national team in training. I must say it’s also challenging for the players going through this pandemic and players have to adjust from the normal times so it’s a challenge. At the end of the day, we have been training for some weeks now. So we face the challenges and we are happy to be here.”
Guyana has been drawn in Group F of the qualification stage for the Concacaf regional competition, alongside Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Only the winners of each of the six groups progress to the final tournament, alongside automatic qualifiers Canada and the United States.
After today’s opening fixture, the Lady Jags will travel to Turks and Caicos for their next match of the FIFA international window, which is scheduled for Saturday.
