“Being aware of my mother’s heritage, the success of the Guyana national team and loving Guyana, it has always been an honour to play under the Golden Arrowhead and more so in the World Cup qualifier heading to Brazil 2014.” Those were the words of 21-year-old defender Taylor Benjamin who hails from Ottawa, Canada, where he plays professionally for Capital City Football Club. He spoke to Chronicle Sport after returning to join the squad of local and other foreign-based players.
Benjamin was recalled for the upcoming friendly internationals the Golden Jaguars will be engaged in, against Trinidad and Tobago Under-23, Grenada and St Vincent away. Guyana will take on Guatemala on February 29 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
According to Benjamin, he followed the Jaguars on the road to the last Digicel Caribbean Cup, along with their recently completed World Cup qualifiers and while he was in a conversation with his barber who is also a Guyanese, he was introduced to former national defender Keith Humphrey and there he indicated his willingness to be a part of the Golden Jaguars lineup.
Humphrey wasted no time in letting an eager Benjamin know that he needs to make contact with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) which he did and later met Colin Baker where his resumé and other details were taken.
Benjamin indicated that he was called to camp last November, from which he was selected to travel to neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago for Guyana’s return fixture which the home team won 2-0.
“The experience gained then was interesting and after returning home, where I played a few games with my club back in Canada, I realised Guyana needed my help to qualify for the World Cup, so I worked hard to gain another call-up to the camp.
“So, I am here again excited to participate in these friendly matches which will do well for me and my country and will help to motivate the other players of the objective of the technical staff, which is for us all to win,” said Benjamin.
Claiming that the experience here in Guyana is great, he still clings to Canada indicating that there is also a large support to which the GFF can tap into for the Jaguars.
He last played for AA International de Limera in Brazil with their Under-20 squad after having a successful season in Canada, but has since returned to Ottawa, where he played two seasons with FC Outaouals Under-21 team, and three seasons with the Ottawa Royals, where he was named MVP in 2006.
At the moment, he is a member of the Golden Jaguars squad which is currently undergoing training sessions at the Ministry of Education ground twice a day, under the watchful eyes of the technical staff comprising Wayne Dover, Ivan Persaud and Andrew Hazel.