THE Golden Jaguars will roar again against CONCACAF team Guatemala on February 29 at the Providence stadium. The game which is sponsored by Miami-based Media Company Sponsports will feature most of the players who helped Guyana create history by advancing to the third stage of the FIFA World Cup Qualifying Tournament for Brazil 2014.
Golden Jaguars head coach, Trinidadian Jamaal Shabazz has been given the green light by the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation to start work with the GFF.
“I have worked things out with the TTFF and my portfolios are now very clear, stated Shabazz. “I will be handling Coach Education in the TTFF not doing any actually coaching with any national team, while the loan arrangement allows me to coach the Guyana National Team, in the short term, added Shabazz.
Shabazz has decided on a two-tier approach in developing the Guyana National Team Programme for the future.
“We must have two teams not one. The local-based squad which will be mainly younger players and the first team which will include the foreign-based players and represent the cream of the crop, explained Shabazz.
For the game against Guatemala, Shabazz has called up the Cort brothers Leon and Carl, skipper Christopher Nurse, veteran defender Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard, while recalling USA-based defender John JP Rodrigues. Trinidad-based  Ronson Williams, Walter Moore, Kayode McKinnon and English-based Jake and Howard Newton, Ricky Shakes, Shawn Beveney and Chris Bourne have all been invited for the Guatemala game. Star striker Gregory Richardson is also on the list for the Guatemala game.
Prior to this, however, Shabazz and his Staff announced a youthful 21-man squad who will undergo a ten-day training camp followed by a four-game Caribbean trip from February 13 to 23.
The squad includes 17 local-based players including Canadian Taylor Benjamin and four Trinidad & Tobago-based players in Walter Moore, Colin Nelson and Trayon Bobb of Caledonia AIA and Kayode McKinnon of North East Stars.
“We have focused on giving exposure to a younger group of players so that we can widen the pool of players to choose from in the not-to-distant future, stated head coach Jamaal Shabazz.
“It also gives an opportunity for some of the younger ones to force their way into the team for the game against Guatemala, added Shabazz.
Guyana will play a representative Tobago XI, Trinidad & Tobago Under-23 team, St Vincent National team and the Grenada National team on the February 14, 16, 19 and 22 respectively.
“These are very good start-up games for these youngsters. The T&T U-23 team just defeated Finland 1-nil – this after Finland defeated the T&T seniors 3-2. So we are meeting a T&T U-23 Team that have played in the U-17 and U-20 FIFA World Cups and trust me they are a team that can run us out of the park, stated Shabazz.
“Actually I am more excited about the youngsters and this trip than the game against Guatemala, stated Shabazz referring to the Caribbean trip.
“Yes the Guatemala game will be a huge test for us but this Caribbean trip is the start of the senior careers for most of these youngsters. This is their caterpillar to butterfly stage in football and having an input in lives of such talented youngsters really excites me, says Shabazz.