… Guyana to kickoff World Cup qualifiers on March 25 against Soca Warriors

THE composition of Guyana’s senior men’s national football team remains a mystery, even as the Golden Jaguars depart today for the Dominican Republic, ahead of their opening matches in the CONCACAF Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
Guyana are drawn in Group F of qualifiers alongside Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and St Kitts and Nevis.
The Golden Jaguars will roar from March 25 against regional nemeses, Soca Warriors, while five days later, also at the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium, Guyana will meet with The Bahamas.

GFF has been tight-lipped on the team’s configuration, even as Guyana Football Federation (GFF) president Wayne Forde, assured the media and fans recently, that “it is not in the interest of the federation to hold that information without any good reason … it’s just that there are many moving pieces behind the scenes and until those pieces are properly aligned, it would be not in anyone’s interest to go out and make announcements.”
Premier League club, Watford FC’s defender, Bayli Spencer-Adams, along with Denmark-based Matthew Briggs and UK-based defender Sam Cox are among some of the names that were made public; only through announcements by their respective clubs via their social media platforms.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s head coach Marcio Maximo has made it clear that he intends to balance the selection of local and overseas-based players on the country’s National football team – a move that is leaving pundits in awe, since it can be at the detriment of the Golden Jaguars.
Coach Maximo has highlighted his development-first approach – something GFF president Wayne Forde said is reflective of their plans for the sustenance of the National programme. However, with an abundance of talent in the diaspora, and the lack of football being played locally, Maximo says he wouldn’t be bamboozled by big names and their clubs. “I don’t select players for their CV or because of what they did. I select the players for what we are doing and what they did for me based on what I saw by my eyes and my evaluation, despite of which player … also, we have potential players here (in Guyana) that if you don’t give them a chance to show; you should give chance to our youth players to show themselves,” Maximo explained.

Thanks to GFF international scout Faizal Khan, Guyana was blessed with having players such as Callum Harriott (Colchester United), Neil Danns (Connah’s Quay Nomads), Briggs, Emery Welshman and Terrell Ondaan. However, big names, emanating from big clubs in Europe, don’t fancy or impress Guyana’s head coach, with the former Brazilian national youth coach, stating that he doesn’t select based on the club they might lace-up for professionally.
“I select players based on their performance … I should select players who are adapting to my system and the system today should be quick, and should have players who can do it (adapt),” Maximo said. Meanwhile, yesterday, some members and staff paid a courtesy call on Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, at his Main Street office. According to information reaching Chronicle Sport, the minister wished the team the best of luck, and urged them to make Guyana proud in their quest in the Middle East. Even though the players that visited the minister yesterday were part of the training squad, it still remains a secret with regard to who the final 23 players are.