… National Task Force yet to issue response

By Kizan Brumell
IT comes as no secret that the pandemic has had an extra impact on the sport fraternity in Guyana. With no one having much of a sturdy handle on the situation, teams and athletes continue to suffer from the guidelines which prevent them from effectively preparing for international events. Last Friday, CONCACAF confirmed the schedule for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with the first round of matches commencing in March 2021. That round will be played between the CONCACAF member associations ranked 6-35, based on the FIFA Men’s Ranking as of July 16, 2020.
The Golden Jaguars are booked in Group F with Trinidad and Tobago (TRI), St Kitts and Nevis (SKN), Puerto Rico (PUR) and The Bahamas (BAH). Jaguars’ first two matches will be against TRI on March 25 while the second comes days later against BAH on March 30. They then have just over a month before the final two games in the Group stage against SKN (June 4) and PUR (June 8).

The CONCACAF official rankings currently have T&T at 11th position, SKN at 14th, Guyana occupy the 20th spot while PUR are locked in at 25th and BAH are 30th. Guyana have just over three months to get their gears well oiled, with Golden Jaguars head coach Márcio Máximo eager to receive confirmation from the National COVID-19 Task Force so that the senior side can resume training. Until then, it will take a disciplined effort from the local athletes to keep active since the commencement of the pandemic. HEAD- TO-HEAD Guyana’s history with Trinidad and Tobago produces great competitions that are marginally decided or in most cases ending as a stalemate. In the last 5 head-to-head games, both teams have only one win against each other, along with 3 draws that all ended 1-1. The second opponent is The Bahamas; this will be an unchartered territory since the two sides have never met. They then meet SKN who have won their most recent encounter in 2014 while PUR, the final Group stage hurdle, were defeated (1-0) in their last match in 2016.

GUYANA’S DISADVANTAGE
There has been partial resumption of training in a few sports in the nation and even a competition or two being approved by the National Task Force. However, football still remains sidelined and alhough the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) submitted its application to the National Task Force, it is still awaiting approval close to a month ago. Meanwhile, the other four nations in the Group have already resumed training which immediately sets Guyana at a disadvantage. Speaking with president of the federation, Wayne Forde, he said: Guyana’s preparation is already frighteningly behind, as every day that goes by, our chances of performing well is sort of affected. What is of greater concern is to not give the local players an opportunity to showcase their talent and probably secure international contracts, given the visibility the FIFA 2022 World Cup will receive and also the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.”

He went on to say, “We know our international players are active in the international leagues but with no sport being allowed in Guyana, our local players have been inactive for almost a year.
The time (few weeks) we have left is rapidly becoming untenable in regards to preparation. I don’t believe that if we go out of the December window that we will be able to adequately prepare the local players for a chance to break into the squad and that is very unfortunate.” With each passing day, the option for the federation to select a team only from a foreign-based pool of players looks more likely. The GFF president remains optimistic that once the Task Force is satisfied that the GFF can implement those plans submitted and not expose the players and anyone associated with the team to become infected, then the federation will be granted the approval. Forde also stated that since no response has been given since submitting the application, retesting will also have to occur. “Three weeks ago we tested the players and since nothing has happened in that time we will have to retest those players; some of whom were afraid to do the test as most people are, and putting them back through that is something I do not want to do, but it will be necessary.

T&T ready
Among the group, T&T are Guyana’s oldest football rivals with a record that began in 1978 that features 22 matches between the two sides. Of the lot, T&T have won 14, drawn six and lost two.
T&T men’s senior football coach Terry Fenwick, on learning of Soca Warriors’ opening match at home against Guyana on March 25, told T&T Guardian: “It’s a bit of important information for us at this stage as it relates to the schedule of the World Cup qualifiers. We knew the teams before but now we know exactly what we’re going to face.” “Being at home in the opening game is good and we will prepare as best as possible for this first game against Guyana which we know has a bit of history with T&T and will certainly be no pushovers. Matter of fact, no team will be a walkover in these qualifiers,” he disclosed. Fenwick added: “With this schedule before us now it tells you how important it was for us to have gotten the suspension lifted and having the Normalisation Committee in charge of our football. “I know for a fact that Chairman Robert Hadad and the rest of the Normalisation Committee are at work and are putting things together for us to be able to breathe a bit easier and for all the right conditions to be in place for our teams. I’m grateful that we’d been able to restart training last month and now we can look forward to executing our plans ahead of March.” The pandemic has affected all nations and they still face the same challenges in terms of local- and foreign-based selection, but the most troubling hurdle, which is resumption of training, has been crossed.