History maker, El-Masri hopes to inspire Guyana once again
INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day 2017 was celebrated on Wednesday, March 8, and observed under the theme, “#BeBoldForChange”.
It focused on “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50:50 by 2030”. It is a day when women’s achievements are celebrated in various fields, whether culturally, socially, economically or politically. In Guyana, it’s no different, and the Guyana Football Federation would like to join the mandate and celebrate women in football. This includes women in the various aspects of football: Leadership, administration, referee, player.
Guyana’s famed Lady Jaguars has, without a doubt, been Guyana’s most successful footballing national team, re-writing the record books since 2010 with qualification to two senior CONCACAF Tournaments. The squad, throughout the years, has retained the same core group of players, and despite not playing regularly together, they have managed to raise their game when it comes to international tournaments; they have been a remarkable success, and a great advert for women’s football.
One player in particular encapsulates this ability to perform on the big occasion: Attacking mid-fielder, Mariam El-Masri. This 25-year-old is not only the first female Guyanese to score at a CONCACAF tournament when she did so in 2010, but also the first to score in Olympic qualifiers, when she scored a magnificent goal last year in Guyana’s 2-1 victory over Guatemala.
Despite being based in Canada, El-Masri retains a sense of pride in being Guyanese; she describes her goal in the Olympic qualifiers as invoking ‘’an amazing feeling scoring for my country; there’re no words to describe the feeling.’’
An accomplished career has seen her play football in both Canada and Denmark as she sought to develop her career. Since the Olympic qualifiers, things have not gone so well for El-Masri: ‘’unfortunately after the Olympic Qualifiers I sustained a very severe concussion: it caused me to take a break from soccer’’ she says when discussing her career. However, showing resolve, she has recently returned to the beautiful game: ‘’I am playing locally with club side GS United in Toronto, Canada. We won the Ontario Championships and came third in the Canadian National Championships’’.
This recovery is a boost to Guyana’s National Women’s programme; the 2017 Women’s Caribbean Cup is slated to begin in May, and El-Masri will be hoping to score in her third major tournament for the Lady Jags. ‘’I am very much looking forward to the Caribbean Cup later this year, and hopefully I will also get the opportunity to play club football at a higher level in the near future’’. When asked about how the Lady Jags manage to maintain such a successful record despite frequent periods of inactivity, El-Masri says: “We just have that connection, every time we get together it’s like we never left each other.”
Guyana’s Lady Jaguar with the Golden Boot is roaring to represent the nation once again.
