THE real and dear lovers of the People’s Beautiful game called Football in our beloved country Guyana are still trying to recover from the extent of damage done to National Pride and the sport after a most dismal, if not embarrassing, performance in the semi finals round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers by the senior national team.

Guyana conceded 24 goals, 11 more than their closest rival Antigua & Barbuda, in the 12 team competition which ended with our worst World Cup defeat 7-0 to Costa Rica.
I have been accused of doing a disservice to the game by not penning and highlighting the many ills affecting the meaningful development here in Guyana.
This accusation mainly stemmed from my earlier confident pronouncement that Guyana will not go any further in the competition and the lack of real sports journalism for the sport of football here in Guyana. Hence, I am compelled to return after a hiatus which has lasted close to two years.
My reasons for such bold predictions were – i) lack of Vision; ii) lack of Expertise, and iii) lack of necessary Finance. These three components are very pivotal to realising any dream we as a Nation had of being among the 32 nations who will contest the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
There is no doubt it all starts with the governing body the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) whose responsibility it is to charter the course in properly preparing the team and the Nation for propelling us into the final round.
In the wake of FIFA’s findings on Corruption and Guyana’s top man, for years, and the General Secretary, both who were suspended, among others, the Sport which has been clouded by the said corruptions over the years was further damaged, thus there would be justified reasons for little or no confidence in the GFF, in key stakeholders.
What should have been done was to establish a Think-Tank and subsequent Committee to strategize and steer the course, one that is very Independent and without any GFF officials, but working in tandem with the GFF.
These must be professionals with the ‘expertise’ knowledge of what is at stake and what is needed, and also must be able to access the necessary links and funding, as well as build National support. In essence, Market the Team while providing adequate finance to make players comfortable so as to boost confidence and, in effect, bring the desired results.
Here was a Federation being led by one who over the years has grown to master the art of opportunism complemented by the infectious endemic C/SIS virus, thus the conspired course was laid for the scarred results we have to live with for years.
There was very little evidence of preparation and almost everything was done in secrecy. It was most laughable when the supposed World Cup campaign, maybe ‘Camp-pain’ a better word, was launched in late May, just weeks before the opening game against Mexico.
What happened between November 11 last year, when we beat T&T at home to advance to the semis, and the opening fixture in June of this year is purely reflective of the lack of Vision or the effects of the Clique/Self Interest Syndrome (C/SIS) virus which has plagued the sport for years.
Most football knowledgeables I have reasoned with are of the share the opinion that the so called Technical Director is limited and does not possess the expertise to take the team beyond where they were fortunate to reach for the first time in our football’s history, and that there was a clear lack of valuable preparation.
Indeed the records would show that we only have one win against our World Cup nemesis and neighbour Suriname and that was in our 1976 WC debut game at the World famous GCC ground. The present Technical Staff had their opportunity in the 2010 WC qualifiers and we all know the results.
To deny that not having to face Suriname in this campaign was a plus is tantamount to deceit.
Throughout the campaign one could not help  hearing the overly repeated importance of the 12th Man – Fans – if Guyana is to succeed.
So when our penultimate game against Mexico was secretly switched to the USA one can only remember the great Reggae King Bob Marley’s line ….’Hypocrites and parasites will go up and take a bite and if night should turn to day a lot of people would run away …’ from the great song ‘Who the Cap fit’.
No consideration was given to the golden opportunity this Nation was presented with – seeing live an Olympic Champion football team against our very own.
Not only were the young football talent and dear fans of this country robbed of such quality exposition of the game, but also many Guyanese living in the US who had already made arrangements to travel home for the match.
For all who have been around the Sport during the 80s, it was 1987 revisited when on that occasion the Federation, then Association, sold out our away 1988 Olympics qualifying games versus Guatemala and Mexico for an agreed sum of three-hundred thousand US dollars. Who collected the money and how it was disbursed is another sordid chapter in the long history of this country’s incompetence and greed for selfish desires in meaningfully administrating the game. At least one of the officials is still around sucking what he can get from the sport, despite his known un-natural, if not sick, behaviour which would have led to his eventual expulsion from one of Guyana’s top football teams of the 70s through to the 90s.
In 2012, it is alleged, that a secret deal was made among the GFF, the Mexico Football Federation, the US Soccer Federation and the world governing body FIFA to shift Guyana’s home fixture against Mexico to Houston, Texas. If that allegation holds true, this nation was not told how much the agreement was worth and whether the agents for promoting home matches and securing gate receipts have been included in the deal and what percentage is due to them? These and many more questions must be answered if the Sport is to have the wholesome support of the Nation.
Furthermore, what about the alleged other secret deal with a Colombian network and what amount of finance was earned from those friendly engagements the team was involved in?
In the real football world such gross insubordina
tion to a Nation would not be tolerated and while the clique boasts about the unprecedented achievement of the team, it is no secret that the grave situation of the sport, domestically, is one that calls for immediate attention and drastic measures, since there will always be more questions than answers
The urgent call or, better yet, the plan of action must be for wholesome cleansing of the oldest National Football Association/Federation of the Region.