— National league on the cards – GFF boss.
HEAD coach of Guyana’s Golden Jaguars football team Paul James said the local side is in a rebuilding mode and it will take approximately two years before the players show their true potential.

Addressing members of the media yesterday at the Guyana Football Federation’s headquarters, James said the team that participated in the just concluded Parbo Bier tournament in Suriname was a very young one that will do Guyana proud in another two or three years time.

The Guyanese failed in their bid to win a single match in the tournament, but according to James who served as head coach for a national team for the first time in his coaching career, the team performed exceedingly well, taking into account that 19 of the 20 players in the touring party are based here in Guyana with only the team’s captain, Howard Lowe, being a professional player, plying his wares in the Trinidad and Tobago Pro League.

According to James, the goalkeeping department was cause for concern as during the first game against Antigua, Ronson Williams suffered an injury and could not play in the team’s second match and as such, Shemroy Arthur was called upon to perform duties between the uprights, but he too got injured during the second game, against Suriname, so the third keeper, Richie Richards was called upon and surprisingly, he performed very well, but the Guyanese still lost.

“But I don’t think this team is far away from being one of the most competitive team in the Caribbean,” James said.

He said when the Golden Jaguars played against Suriname, they were outclassed because the Dutch side include about seven players that are playing professional football in Europe, while the third game (versus French Guiana) was the team’s best game, “but there were problems with our finishing”.

He said the Guyanese scored in each of their three matches and for a young team to do that “shows improvement. So I think within two years this team will be very competitive.”

GFF’s president Colin Klass said the Golden Jaguars is in a rebuilding mode and “this will be the way forward for all our teams.”

He indicated that a lot will be happening for the national Under-15 and Under-12 teams.

Asked if the overseas-based players that were part of the national team that contested the Digicel Caribbean Cup will be axed from further representing Guyana at the international level, Klass answered in the negative and stated that for them to make any national team in the future, they would have to impress the technical staff.

He added that indiscipline would not be tolerated in the future. “We have not discarded anyone, but we are rebuilding from the bottom and our focus is to have a national league going before year end.”

He said the current crop of players will be exposed consistently and hopefully, before the year ends, they will be involved in an international friendly.

Klass used the opportunity to thank the technical staff and management of the team that contested the Parbo Bier Cup for a job well done.