KEANU Marsh -Brown might have ended his season with a disappointing 1-0 loss to Tranmere Rovers at Wembley last Saturday in their English League Two playoff final, but his focus is now on the CONCACAF Gold Cup and ensuring that Guyana progress out of a difficult group.

The Newport County (League Two) 26-year-old winger, playing in his first international match for Guyana, was instrumental in the side’s 2-1 over Belize; the game that saw the country booking their first spot at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

However, speaking exclusively with Chronicle Sport recently, Marsh-Brown, whose older brother Ronayne (Marsh-Brown) also suits up for ‘Golden Jaguars’ believes that the Gold Cup presents the perfect opportunity to “show the football world what Guyana can do.”
Guyana will open their 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign against defending champions USA on June 18 at the Allianz Field in Minneapolis.

The Golden Jaguars were drawn in Group D of the 16-team tournament, with the defending champions (USA), Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.

Following their June 18 opener, coach Michael Johnson and his squad will travel to Cleveland to take on Panama on June 22 at the FirstEnergy Stadium then play their final group game against regional rivals, Trinidad and Tobago, on June 26 at the Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas.

“Our group is great and our opening game is even better playing against the hosts in their country; we have a great team, great manager and coaching staff and backroom staff behind the scenes. We will go into the tournament and games with no pressure but we are not going into games just to enjoy the moment,” the flashy winger noted.

Guyana came close on several occasions to reaching the Gold Cup, but would usually fall short, sometimes as close as a one-goal difference. However, the UK-based player believes that under coach Johnson, the country is seeing probably their best assembled team which he thinks “will leave history and the Gold Cup is the start of an amazing journey for success”.

Marsh-Brown will be amongst the group of players that will commence preparations on June 1 with an international camp that will include two international friendly matches.
The camp begins on June 1 in Bermuda where they will come up against fellow Gold Cup debutants Bermuda in an international friendly on June 6.

Golden Jaguars will then travel to Costa Rica to continue their camp over the period June 9-13 and while there they will play another international friendly, this time against Caribbean powerhouse Haiti on June 11. From Costa Rica the team will travel to their base in St Paul, Minnesota, USA.

“Playing for Guyana is huge for me, personally, and my family. My grandad would have been proud to see me out there and I’m glad we won that game (against Belize) to seal the spot to the Gold Cup.

The excitement is still there but it has toned down. I’ve played in some big matches before and been involved in a team that reached the UEFA cup final with Fulham so playing in this tournament (Gold Cup) I will know how to focus and turn all that excitement into fuel on the pitch,” the former Fulham player said.

Guyana’s Gold Cup squad will comprise players from the various tiers in English football, the MLS, the USL and the Canadian Premier League.

However, despite the team’s success, some fans are in an uproar about the local to overseas-based players’ ratio, but Keanu said that “as a team we do not think like that we are one team and one nation and for us to be successful … we all need to stick together and be one people. All we want is to be successful as a team and we are all playing for the badge and the nation Guyana, so we need the backing of our people to be that 12th man and unite and stand behind us.”