(In Paramaribo compliments of Bryden’s, Umbrella Pawn Shop, Prudential Industrial and Star Party Rentals)
PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Guyana’s representative team Golden Jaguars will face Vitesse of Holland on the opener tonight at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium when the 2012 Parbo Bier Cup football tournament kicks off at 19:00hrs local time. The tournament will be played among Vitesse, Suriprofs Nationals and the representative Golden Jaguars of Guyana.
The tournament which is an annual one has seen the professional players of the visiting club of Holland, Vitesse, and the professional players of Suriname mixed with some of the present national players, exhibiting their skill in this local exciting tournament.
Parbo Bier, who is the official sponsor of Suriname Airways and SIVS, is in its third year of the tournament.
At a press conference yesterday at the Parbo Bier headquarters, Guyana’s Golden Jags coach Joseph ‘Bill’ Wilson indicated that Guyana is extremely pleased to be participating in this year’s tournament as he brought greetings from the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the people of Guyana.
Asked about the preparation of the Golden Jags as it relates to the upcoming World Cup zone matches, he noted that this tournament has always been used as a yardstick to measure the level of our performance. He stated that Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica are all good teams, just as the Jags.
He added that there is always an opportunity for exposing the young promising players and this tournament has served as a good one for us in Guyana.
The Jags will face Vitesse in the opener tonight and the Holland professional touring with three Brazilians and a Japanese national will bring a wealth of experience and talent against the local side.
Head coach of the Vitesse club Joseph van den Brom indicated that his club, like other professional clubs, will use this tournament as pre-season preparation hence performance will be paramount and the technical execution of the team’s  game plan is what will be evaluated.
Noting that it is good to play against clubs and countries that are up in rankings in their country, association, federation and congress as this will bring keen competition.
He noted that his technical staff will also be looking for players who will be able to fit the technical and tactical requirements of his team as the scouting process would be very important.
On Friday, Guyana will face the Suriprofs National lineup and on Sunday the two Dutch sides will conclude the tournament.