… Golden Jaguars set to rumble with Belize March 23, at Leonora

“GUYANA will qualify for the Gold Cup. We at GFF are doing everything, we’re giving everything to ensure that this happens, but, we want your support,” said Wayne Forde, president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) when the sport’s local governing body rolled out their ‘Roar to Gold Cup’ campaign yesterday at the Pegasus Hotel.

The Golden Jaguars, the country’s senior Men’s National team, are set to ‘roar’ against Belize on March 23 at the Leonora Track and Field Centre, where a win will see Guyana, playing at the CONCACAF showpiece, which runs from June 15 to July 7.

While Lady Jags, the women’s senior national team, featured at the tournament in 2010 when it was held in Cancun, Mexico, the men’s side have never graced the Confederation’s biggest tournament. They only came close in 2007 when they were one goal shy of qualification.

Despite their stringent preparation so far, Forde believes that the crowd will be the 12th man and the determining factor on March 23, at Leonora.

The GFF head urged fans to reach out to their various ticket outlets – Guinness Bar (D’Urban Street), Andrew’s Supermarket (Aubrey Barker Road, South Ruimveldt), West Indian Sports Complex (Robb Street) and grab their Golden Jaguars replicas (being sold for $5 000) as well as to be at the National Track and Field Centre.

In 2017 CONCACAF, president Victor Montagliani introduced the Nation’s League, which is a new national team competition platform they had designed to maximise the quality, quantity and frequency of competitive matches for all Member Associations within the confederation.

The opportunity presented was perfect for GFF.
The task was artless – finish in the top ten of the 34-team Nations League qualification tournament and Guyana were in the Gold Cup.

Johnson, a former Jamaican International was named head coach and his task was a simple one – to get Guyana to the Gold Cup.

Though the team had beaten Turks and Caicos 8-0 after a disappointing 2-2 home draw against Barbados, a 1-2 away loss to French Guiana placed Guyana in a position where it was mathematically improbable for them to reach the CONCACAF showpiece, since only the teams finishing in the top 10 will advance.

Luckily for Guyana, it was later revealed that the Carlisle United and former Bury FC forward Hallam Hope, who had scored both goals against Guyana, did not have the proper clearance from FIFA and English FA to represent Barbados.

Then CONCACAF stated that their Disciplinary Committee decided to sanction Barbados Football Association (BFA), by declaring as a forfeit the CONCACAF Nations League Qualifying match played against Guyana, on September 6, 2018.

CONCACAF noted that after due examination of the evidence, the Committee determined that BFA infringed the applicable articles of the Tournament Regulations and the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes, in relation to the eligibility of players to play for representative teams by fielding ineligible players Hope and Krystian Pearce.

In accordance with Articles 55 and 31 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, BFA lost the match against Guyana by a score of 3-0.

That result pushed Guyanese men to 8th position behind Curacao (1), Haiti (2), Cuba (3), Canada (4), Jamaica (5) and Martinique (6) who rounded off the top six teams in the tournament, having picked up full points from their three matches. Bermuda (7th) St Kitts and Nevis (9th) and the Dominican Republic are the other teams in the top ten.

Belize, Guyana’s next opponents, are in 13th position with six points (two wins and a loss) and can crash the party if coach Johnson decides to replicate his November 20 decision to not play the best line-up available as he did against French Guiana.