… GFF president confident of Nations League success

By Rawle Toney in Las Vegas
Compliments of Guyana Chronicle and Let’s Bet Sports)

THE Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s senior Men’s National football team, will face Aruba, Antigua & Barbuda and Jamaica, in Group C of League B in the CONCACAF Nations League.

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) held its official draw for the 2019 CONCACAF Nations League, at the Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was conducted by CONCACAF Chief Football Officer Manolo Zubiria and the confederation’s Director of Development and former Grenada international footballer, Jason Roberts.

The home-and-away group stage of the 2019 CONCACAF Nations League will be played on FIFA match dates in September, October and November 2019, while the Final Championship will take place in 2020.
Additionally, the teams at the bottom of each League A and B group will be relegated to League B and C.

By virtue of finishing seventh in the qualifying stages of the competition, Guyana were pitted in League B; something Wayne Forde, president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) says he’s comfortable with, given the fact that he’s confident that the Golden Jaguars will hold their own against the Reggae Boyz, Antigua and Aruba.

“I know that the countries that would have done well will try to do better and those that might not have done good enough, are going to be making the investment because of the attention this Nations League is getting globally and within the region. It’s going to push member associations to make the investment,” Forde told Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview in Las Vegas.

Forde further added: “My only hope as in the case of Guyana, where the government has come on board in some measure and helped us. That will deepen and we’ll have a greater partnership with the Government and corporate Guyana to help us. I’m wishing similar success for my brothers and sisters within the region.”

“I’m excited, I’m not afraid of this group, I think we have the players and we’re continuing to do our work at home and do our procuring abroad to find players that we think can really complement the squad. Coach (Michael) Johnson is optimistic and inspired,” said the GFF boss.

Guyana qualified for their first-ever Men’s Gold Cup tournament and will feature in the June 15 – July 7 event. As Forde related that he believes Guyana will be very competitiveness and I’m absolutely confident that we will be a permanent fixture for two consecutive years at the CONCACAF Gold Cup for two consecutive years.”
The groups for the 2019 CONCACAF Nations League are as follows (listed in the order drawn):

LEAGUE A
Group A – USA, Canada and Cuba
Group B – Mexico, Panama and Bermuda
Group C – Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique and Honduras
Group D – Haiti, Curaçao and Costa Rica

LEAGUE B
Group A – French Guiana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Belize and Grenada
Group B – El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia and Montserrat.
Group C: Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda and Aruba.
Group D: Nicaragua, Suriname, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica

LEAGUE C
Group A: Barbados, Cayman Islands, Saint Martin and U.S. Virgin Islands
Group B: Bonaire, Bahamas and British Virgin Islands
Group C: Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Anguilla
Group D: Guadeloupe, Turks and Caicos and Sint Maarten
At the conclusion of the group stage, the winners of each League A group will qualify to the Final Championship, while Leagues B and C group winners will be promoted to Leagues A and B for the next edition of the competition.