… Selection process blamed

THE experience-deficient Guyana national football team returned home without a victory from their involvement in the Caribbean Football Union Cup competition held in St Kitts and Nevis recently. Guyana’s poor showing has given rise to more questions surrounding the selection process which produced the team. Guyana drew 0-0 with Dominica then lost 2-0 to St Lucia and St Kitts in Group Six action of the competition leaving the Golden Jaguars with the ignominy of not scoring a single goal in three matches.
The national team was without a number of its experienced faces and without the services of long-time head coach Wayne `Wiggy’ Dover, who was replaced by Denzil `Hunky Brains’ Thompson just weeks ago.
Outspoken Alpha United president Odinga Lumumba declared that the writing was on the wall the moment the team was selected. “I did not expect better results without us reverting to magic. The entire selection process was flawed and we will continue to get the same results if it’s not fixed soon,” Lumumba warned.
He added that even if the emphasis is being placed on youth there must be an element of experience in any team, unless the goal is not to win.
Walter Moore, who plays pro football in Kazakhstan, was the only member of the side with senior international experience going into the CFU competition. Coach Dover, who was appointed head coach in 2005 and piloted Guyana to their highest FIFA Ranking (91) in 2011 was surprisingly fired a few weeks ago and replaced with Thompson.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) defended the selection by announcing that it was moulding for the future. However, Lumumba scoffed at this line of reasoning while insisting that the GFF was making mock of the game and national pride.
“Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson is the most talented striker in Guyana and maybe in the Caribbean at the moment. He has dominated the local league and has scored the most goals. You have to be insane to leave out him out.
“You have to be mad not to include Dwight Peters and goalkeeper Ronson Williams in any current senior national line up,” Lumumba stressed.
“You must have a mixture of youth and experience. In a small country like Guyana your team should be made up of Guyanese wherever there are. It’s downright foolishness to have only players who live in Guyana selected to your team. We have so much talent at our disposal and yet this,” Lumumba declared.
He urged the present administration to immediately get back to the table and devise a plan that can bring back honour to the nation.
“I believe the selection process was flawed. If you want to win then you must have your best players. Guyana did not have its best players representing her at the CFU competition, so we lost. The fact is that we lost to teams that we could have closed our eyes and defeated had we sent out best players. Brazil had the same problem in the last World Cup.
They tried to use a lot of young players and they failed,” Lumumba said.
According to the Alpha United president, the reason for the recent shift in selection must have come about because of a difference in philosophy of the administration of the Guyana Football Federation.
“The president of GFF feels that there must be a change, and the need to create something new. Quite evidently his vision is to get rid of all that is old and start afresh. I have a different philosophy. I think that there should be a mix. History will absolve me.”