By Rawle Toney

GUYANA will open their CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship qualifiers tonight at the National Track and Field Centre against Bermuda and the team’s head coach, Dr Ivan Joseph, believes that Guyana’s opening-night opposition will be his toughest challenge.

The Lady Jags, as they are more commonly referred to, will play in tonight’s second match of the planned double-header from 21:30hrs, following the Suriname vs St Lucia game at 19:00hrs.

“I’ve been involved in the National team over th e past year and if you look clearly from our experiences last year in the qualifiers, we clearly see that Bermuda are the most organised and most talented group in the pool. They’ve got a strong infrastructure, and they have a longer history. This is our first time in the U-20, where we probably have two players with some senior team experience,” Dr Joseph told reporters, at yesterday’s press conference at the Ramada Hotel at Providence.

Speaking on the team’s composition, the Canadian said the side is made of players based on the Diaspora, with “probably 80% of our team experiencing their first time in international competition. Our expectation is that this is part of our rebuilding programme, so we’ll be hopeful to place in the top two as we look to build the programme”.

In the absence of any local football for the country’s women, Dr Joseph called the selection process “difficult”, adding, “to be honest, I’m assuming that many of the Caribbean nations might be in a similar position where you’re trying to field team … to put together (a team), based on one and two practices, what you think will be an impactful line-up.”

The CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Qualifiers will be held July 13-21, where Guyana are placed in Group A along with Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname and St Lucia.

Following tonight’s game, Lady Jags will face Antigua and Barbuda on July 15, St Lucia on July 19 and Suriname on July 21.

Guyana’s Squad: Tylor White (Oshawa Kicks OYSL), Aneesa O’Brien (FC Durham Academy), Lensey Adolph (Kwakwani FC), Sydney Puddicombe (ANB Futbol Academy), Rylee Traicoff (FC Durham Academy), Jessica Myers (FC Durham Academy), Hailey David (Pickering SC), Jade Vyfhuis (UMSC OPDC), Amanda McKenzie (Fruta Conquerors FC), Kiana Khedoo (North Miss League), Serena McDonald (AJAX FC), Shontel Greene (Foxy Ladies FC), Tori DeNobrega (Pickering SC), Nailah Rowe (FC Durham Academy), Jaida Brooks (FC Durham Academy), Jenea Knight (AJAX FC), Brianne Desa (FC Durham Academy), Siacy Adams (Foxy Ladies FC), Aubrey Narine (Pickering SC), Tiandi Smith (Fruta Conquerors FC).