… reiterates call for public support

MICHAEL Johnson, the recently-installed head coach of Guyana’s senior men’s national football team, is happy with the level of commitment shown by members of the ‘Golden Jaguars’ ahead of their campaign in the CONCACAF Nations League’s opening clash against Barbados tomorrow.

Guyana will play Barbados at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora, in their attempt to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Golden Jaguars has never featured at the confederation’s marquee tournament, but Johnson believes that with the consistent desire and hunger for success being shown by the players selected, Guyana will be among the 16-team tournament, set for the USA next year.

“The players are hungry and are adapting to what we’re asking, giving us 110%,” Johnson told Chronicle Sport at the team’s practice session yesterday at Leonora.

“The mood among the players is one that they want success, the mood is one that they want to create history, the mood is one that they have a real appetite to work hard and give 110% to this,” Johnson said.

Johnson, 45, a former national player for Jamaica, winning 13 caps for the ‘Reggae Boyz’, reiterated his call for public support, with the former Derby County defender adding “I think it’s vital that everybody sees what these players are trying to do for Guyana. We’re trying to change direction, because, there’s no getting away from the fact that things have been very disappointing over the last few years. There’s a target that we had set, that we want to achieve and we want the public to come out and give support to this group of players.”

The CONCACAF Nations League is the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football’s (CONCACF) new centralised men’s national team competition for national team football in the confederation.

The CONCACAF Nations League begins this month with a one-off qualifying phase, while the group phase, consisting of three-tiered leagues will kick off in 2019, ending with a final to crown the Nations League champions.

The competition will also serve to unify the qualifying path for the region’s national teams to the newly-expanded Gold Cup which has moved from 12, to 16 teams.

With matches being played on the FIFA dates between September 2018 and March 2019, Guyana, after their clash with Barbados on September 6, will then travel to Turks and Caicos for a meeting between the two countries on October 13, followed by an encounter against French Guiana on November 20, before hosting Belize in March, 2019.