A 26-MEMBER provisional squad, consisting of nine Guyana-based and 16 overseas-based players, was unveiled by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) yesterday.
The international-based players are scheduled to arrive in Guyana tomorrow (May 18) and they will have their first training session in the evening.
The release of the squad followed the announcement that the CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s Qualifiers Tournament, scheduled for May 23-27 at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora, is included in the calendar of events of the Guyana Independence Carnival.
This was revealed at a press conference held at the GFF Secretariat by GFF president Wayne Forde, who shared the head table along with Ian Greenwood, GFF Technical Director and Kerwin Bollers, Director – Guyana Carnival.
Greenwood said 26 players are part of the provisional squad facing tough opposition: “We’ve got Bermuda in the first game which we feel will be our toughest opposition.
“They’ve got some strong players they’ll be bringing in from the UK as well. We played Suriname recently and we feel we missed a few golden opportunities to put that game to bed so we know a lot about Suriname. We are very confident going into that game.
Our final game is against Barbados. They will be fairly strong with an influx of some players from the USA as well.”
“The squad is being developed through the new coaching staff,” Greenwood continued. “The players based in Guyana are coming through the GFF-Scotiabank Academy Training Centres (ATCs), which is something we have never had before, that is, having this number of Guyana-based players in the squad.
“We also have to stress that these players are in on merit as opposed to being tokens and coming along for the ride. We have players now that can start international fixtures. We’ve proved that a few weeks ago in Trinidad, so we’re confident in what we’re trying to put together.
“We’re very confident that the players will represent Guyana extremely well and it’s a great mix of players, playing professionally, in college and also in Guyana as well.”
The tournament will feature double-headers on match days at 17:00hrs and 19:30hrs respectively. The complete schedule follows:
May 23 – Barbados vs Suriname (17:00hrs), Guyana vs Bermuda (19:30hrs)
May 25 – Bermuda vs Barbados (17:00hrs), Suriname vs Guyana (19:30hrs)
May 27 – Suriname vs Bermuda (17:00hrs), Barbados vs Guyana (19:30hrs)
The 26-member squad is as follows:
Taylor White (Oshawa Kicks Canada), Natalie Nedd (Fruta Conquerors FC Guyana), Aneesa O’Brien (FC Durham Academy Canada), Sasha James (Fruta Conquerors FC Guyana), Odessa Romeo (GDF FC Guyana), Nikkita Persaud (Pickering SC Canada), Sydney Cummings (Brown University USA), Brianne DeSouza (Carleton University Canada), Alicia Zaban (Ontario Regional Canada), Allison Heydorn (Central Michigan FC USA), Collette Hope (Fruta Conquerors FC Guyana), Brittany Persaud (Westside Timbers USA), Mariam El-Masri (Warriors FC Singapore), Tiandi Smith (Foxy Ladies Guyana), Jade Vyfhuis (Markham SC Canada), Ghilene Joseph (Arcardi University USA), Lakeisha Pearson (Fruta Conquerors FC Guyana), Horicia Adams (Foxy Ladies Guyana), Brianne Desa (FC Durham Academy Canada), Hannah Baptiste (AFC Wimbledon England), Calaigh Copland (Woodbridge Strikers Canada), Ashlee Savona (Alumni FC Canada), Annalisa Vincent (Silver Sands Guyana), Cameo Hazelwood (University of Pennsylvania USA), Jalade Trim (Kwakwani Strikers Guyana), Otesha Charles (West Ham Ladies England).
