… to open CONCACAF Qualifier against ‘Soca Warriors’

By Rawle Toney

GUYANA’S journey to the ‘Middle East’ for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, will kick-off in Port of Spain when they travel to Trinidad and Tobago’s capital city to take on ‘Soca Warriors’ next Thursday, October 8, 2021.

Golden Jaguars were drawn in Group F alongside Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and St Kitts & Nevis.

After their clash with the ‘Trinis’, the Golden Jaguars will return home to roar against The Bahamas on Tuesday, October 13.

On Friday, November 13, Guyana will travel to St Kitts & Nevis for their third game and then host Puerto Rico on Tuesday, November 17.

Golden Jaguars’ best run in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers came during the run-up to the 2014 tournament in Brazil, where they had reached the penultimate round of the CONCACAF zone.

It was during that run they had a memorable showing against Trinidad and Tobago on November 11, 2011 at Guyana National Stadium where Guyana had won 2-1, thanks to goals from Ricky Shakes and former English Premier League player Leon Cort.

Guyana last faced Trinidad and Tobago during the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where, despite a beautiful goal scored by Neil Danns, the two sides ended the match with a 1-1 draw.

Guyana only played Puerto Rico twice at the senior level internationally, with the U.S. territory winning 2-0 in 1993, and Golden Jaguars, with a goal from defender King Solomon Austin, winning 1-0.

The clash against St Kitts and Nevis will mark the third meeting for Guyana, but it will also be the first time the two countries are meeting during a World Cup qualification tournament.

World governing body FIFA yesterday announced that certain international match windows will be extended to enable Confederations to schedule triple-match dates.

According to FIFA, this is due to the challenges faced by global football due to COVID-19, in particular for those regions where several 2020 FIFA international match windows were suspended.

In CONCACAF’S case, FIFA’s decision means the Confederation can schedule three matches in each of the September and October 2021 and January and March 2022 FIFA international match windows.

This will enable CONCACAF to begin its eight-team Final Round of the CONCACAF Qualifiers in September 2021, following a First Round played in March and June 2021 and a Second Round in June 2021 (June 2021 includes two FIFA international match windows).

The First Round will be played between the CONCACAF Member Associations ranked 6-35 based on the FIFA Men’s Ranking as of July 16, 2020.

Each team will play every other team in their group once, playing a total of four matches; two home and two away. These games will be played in the FIFA match windows of March 2021 and the first FIFA match window of June 2021. At the end of the First Round, the six group winners will progress to the Second Round.

The Final Round of the CONCACAF Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will see the three winners from the Second Round join the CONCACAF Member Associations ranked 1-5, who had already gained enough FIFA ranking points to guarantee their place in the Final Round prior to the development of a new format.

The eight teams will play each other home and away, with each team playing 14 matches.

At the end of the Final Round, the top three finishing teams will qualify directly to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The fourth-placed team will qualify for the FIFA Intercontinental Playoff, scheduled to be played in June 2022.