President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde is confident that the Lady Jaguars will defeat host Suriname this evening when the two sides clash in a top-of-the-table encounter.
Unbeaten group leaders Suriname will face off against second place lady Jags from 6pm in the 2024 Road to Concacaf Gold Cup Qualifiers at the Dr. Ir. Franklin Essed Stadium in Paramaribo, Suriname.
Guyana enters the match with a record of one victory and a loss. The Lady Jaguars opened their campaign with a 1-2 defeat to Antigua and Barbuda before rebounding to crush lowly Dominica 5-0 in their prior fixture. Suriname defeated Dominica 4-0 and Antigua and Barbuda 1-0 to maintain their perfect record.
“We firmly believe that the team has the required skills to secure a resounding victory against Suriname,” said Forde.
“The Lady Jags’ cohesion and unity are unquestionable, and we encourage all Guyanese to support them as they proudly represent our nation in this prestigious regional tournament,” he added.
The 23-member Lady Jaguars roster, which features five local players, comprises: goalkeepers Chante Sandiford, Raven Edwards-Dowdall, and Aneesa O’Brien; defenders Sydney Cummings, Anya Tribune, Briana De Souza, Anika Sproxton, Savanna Mondesir-Singh, and Glengie Lewis; midfielders Dylana Makarowski, Brianne Desa, Justine Rodrigues, Hannah Baptiste, Masani Springer-Williams, Jalade Trim, Sandra Johnson, Stefanie Kouzas, Samantha Banfield, and Otesha Charles; and forwards Shanice Alfred, Glendy Lewis, Shanic Thornhill, and Neema Liverpool. Head coach Omar Khan said that the team was ready and excited to be in action again. “We are ready as staff. Everybody is excited, excited to meet again after the first window, excited to play two matches and get enough points to face the third window with enough confidence.”
Khan said that he was “getting to know some new players and working on our strategy to face Suriname. We’ve watched some videos, so we know what we can expect from their team, and we will try to surprise them with our plan.” The second encounter between the teams will occur on Sunday at the same venue from 16:00 hrs. The event will serve as the qualifiers for the inaugural Road to the World Gold Cup and will occur during the FIFA Women’s International Window in September, October, and November of this year.
After home and away group stage matches within each league, the respective winner of each League A section (three teams) will qualify for the 2024 W Gold Cup Group Stage. The second-place finishers in each of the League A groups (three teams) and the winner of each League B pool (three teams) will progress to the preliminary stage of the 2024 W Gold Cup (six teams in total).
The inaugural W Gold Cup will occur from February 17th–March 10th, 2024, in the United States.
