SINCE their infamous 11.11.11 victory over Trinidad and Tobago to advance to the semi-final stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Guyanese were longing to see the Golden Jaguars, their beloved Senior National Football team, in action. Thanks to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Normalisation Committee that the almost four-year wait was over, as Golden Jaguars faced St Lucia on Sunday night at the Guyana National Stadium.

Guyana, behind goals from Eon Alleyne and Sheldon Holder, roared to a 2-0 victory over the visitors – a win head coach Jamaal Shabazz said is dedicated to the people of Guyana, and a statement for corporate Guyana to support the side.
“It was important for us to win; not for us, because we are very serious about football but it’s for the fans and for corporate Guyana to see that we are very serious,” Shabazz said.
He added, “We’ve seen an organisation/committee come together in just under five months and we see football back in and that’s the kind of seriousness; so the victory wasn’t for us, but was for the public and corporate Guyana to see a desire from an organisation that is very serious about taking Guyana’s football forward”.
According to Shabazz, for the team, Sunday’s victory brought reassurance to the players, adding “because all the guys made sacrifices, because we took them away from their clubs at a time when they are in an important tournament for them locally and it gives that feeling and a sense of assurance that if they dedicate themselves to the programme, we’ll go a far way as a country”.
The Jaguars faced St Lucia in last year’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Championship, losing 2-0 with a squad of mostly uncapped players and captain Chris Nurse believes that the current bunch believe that they had a point to prove to the previous administration who refused to include them in the squad.
“I think the team had something to prove because a lot of players felt a bit disgruntled by the way they were left out of the CFU squad last year against St Lucia and a lot of players wanted to prove a point: that had the best team been selected for that tournament, Guyana would have been playing in the Gold Cup this year,” Nurse said.
Nurse, who is said to be Guyana’s most successful captain, pointed out, “We’re still developing as a team, taking it game by game and I think the fitness was better but there’s a lot that we can do as a team. It was a complete performance but we kept a clean sheet and came out with the win and that’s what is important in International football.”
Guyana will play Grenada on Sunday, March 29 at Providence and Shabazz this time around will have the services of former Fulham defender Matthew Briggs and Bolton Wonderers midfield player Neil Danns at his disposal.
The Englishmen arrived in Guyana and will head into preparation mode for Sunday’s encounter as Shabazz pointed out: “Matthew and Neil consented and accepted our offer to come and play for us, says a lot but also, we have a couple other players we want to bring in; Pernell Shultz, Trayon Bobb whom we didn’t consider for this (St Lucia) game because we’re in the middle of a tournament and these games are what we’re going to use in the FIFA time allotted to select our final squad so from here, we’ll send some players back to their clubs and bring in a couple and widen the pool.”
Shabazz made a loud appeal to corporate Guyana, claiming “to bring the players, it costs money so we would like corporate Guyana to step forward and play your part because football gives everybody a chance to make a contribution to their country”.

By Rawle Toney