… blames unpreparedness
NEWLY installed national U-20 football coach, Collie Hercules, in reflecting on his first tenure in charge of a national selection, is of the opinion that unpreparedness was mainly responsible for the poor showing in the just concluded CFU World Cup qualifiers played in Suriname, while adding that the effort of the players should be applauded. “It’s not to make an excuse, but it’s the fact – we were underprepared. Looking at the other teams we competed against and speaking with the coaches as well, their programmes continued after the first round stage while ours stopped for a long period, and that definitely played a big part in our performance.
“Obviously the time we had to prepare for this tournament was not sufficient, but I think with the time we had we showed some improvement.
“I must commend the guys for the commitment they showed and we did improve with each game, but I must admit we were not good enough this time around.”
The former Upper-Demerara and National striker replaced former National captain Gordon Brathwaite as head coach of the U-20s without any explanation to the nation by the GFF. In fact, Brathwaite is yet to receive any correspondence of his removal from the helm.
According to Hercules, in hindsight, it would have been a wiser decision not to take on coaching the team, but was quick to add, “This is national duty and I could not refuse.
“Of course it is not the ideal situation you would want as a coach, but I thought that I could have offered something with the limited time. Like I said, we tried our best and I must commend the guys. Eventually in the last two games we showed that we can compete with the other teams.”
The games, which were played on the newly laid artificial turf at the Franklin Essed Stadium in Paramaribo, were dominated by the home team who won all three matches by 2-1 margins to seal the final Caribbean spot at the CONCACAF finals set for Guatemala in April this year.
Guyana, like Bermuda and the Netherlands Antilles, ended with two defeats and a win but the Guyanese finished at the bottom of the group.
Coach Hercules told Chronicle Sport that he did not feel the turf had any part to play in the team’s poor showing, but lamented the technical deficiencies.
“The turf did not play a part, but in terms of our confidence and touches on the ball – they were poor and these things should not be an issue at the national level. This situation is so because enough football at the youth level is not being played and consequently you have to devote extra time to sharpen these basic skills as well as organise them.
“It was an uphill task and we tried our best to get them ready. There needs to be continuity at the national level if we aspire to get success.
“Like these guys should be going into a pool where they continue to train for whatever next tournament they are eligible for. We  can’t wait two and three weeks before a tournament to start preparations. It’s not going to work”
“I think what needs to happen is we need to restructure all that we are doing, especially with preparations of national selections.
We need to understand that our local club structure is not the best. All our national teams should be training all year round on continuous programmes. I know it is a financial situation, but we must try and find a way to get our teams involved in continuous programmes” Hercules opined.
“On behalf on the management and coaching staff I would like to apologise to the Nation for not qualifying. I would also like to ask the nation to commend the team for their commitment and effort as well as to support these players since they are the future of our football and they need all the attention now,” Hercules concluded.