THE Golden Jaguars will head to the Land of the Flying Fish for their February 1 encounter against the Island’s senior National team, and today the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) will announce the coach and roster for the game. Having fallen by the wayside, Guyana’s return to competitive football was one that many would want to forget, since under coach Denzil Thompson, their showing at the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Cup was unimpressive.

With the CONCACAF World Cup and Olympic qualifiers on the horizon, the Golden Jaguars will want to test the waters and Barbados are expected to provide the perfect match-up.
While the GFF remains tight-lipped about who will be the National coach for the encounter, sources confirmed that former technical director Jamaal Shabazz is tipped to be named today for the job.
Based on an article published in the Guyana Chronicle on Monday January 5, Shabazz was contacted by this publication but stated via email that “At the moment I cannot confirm or deny that anything is final with me at the GFF or the Normalisation Committee. In this regard I cannot comment but you will know once things are finalised and announced by the Normalisation Committee”.
Normalisation Committee Chairman Clinton Urling, asked about the appointment, pointed out that all questioned will be answered today when the coach and squad are unveiled.
A leaked squad and staff was published, but Urling, at a Press Conference to announce the appointment of Canadian Claude Bolton as Guyana’s new Technical Director, asked that only official pronouncement from the GFF be published.
“We saw people saying they know who the national team is for the Barbados friendly but I don’t even know who the team is. In fact, two or three days ago, I got an email from (Lyndon) France who is our Technical Officer about who the top players were in the recently concluded Association football games, all the MVPs and those players who were the MVPs will be shortlisted for the team,” Urling said.

(By Rawle Toney)