NEWLY promoted Head Coach of the Golden Jaguars Marco Bonofiglio, says the side is well equipped for their 2026-2027 CONCACAF Nations League campaign.
The Head Coach, who will later this month have his first test as the nation’s senior men’s Head Coach is optimistic of his side’s continued performance.
Guyana will firstly come up against Puerto Rico on September 24th and Cayman Island on the 27th, and then they will again go back into action on October 1st and fourth, both times against Dominica.
The Toronto-based coach is expected to name his squad in the coming weeks with the unit scheduled to assemble for camp on September 20 in Dominica, where they will be joined by the overseas contingent.
‘I’m here for a couple of weeks, and being able to look at the domestic players and the domestic league, I think it is a very important piece of the puzzle as we close down on choosing our final roster. Tight now, it is not a complete set but should be set in about another 10-14 days and that is why I’m here taking a look at the domestic players.”
He said they expect the squad to be in good shape, as most of the players are in season playing for their respective teams locally and abroad.
Bonofiglio noted that they respected their oppositions but believes in an aggressive style of play, which he demonstrated with the youth teams.
“We want to set the standard high; it is a high bar that we have placed. You look at our opponents; we respect all of them. They are good teams. You look at Puerto Rico; it is probably the highest-ranked opponent that we have, and we all respect them. They have had some good results recently with a new coach, Dominica: We have played them, and they are no easy test for us either. Cayman Island is in there as well, and they have been improving along their pathway as well, so it is not an easy affair at all, but when we look at our past and our pathway, we have been coming along and on a pretty good trajectory right now, so we want to keep that going, keep the positive mentality, and have the right mindset.”
Bonofiglio has been a regular at the GFF Elite League as he continues to assess players for national duty and keep an eye on not just the present but the future of this team.
‘You want to have those core players that are part of the program and have been part of the program? You want to understand the future of what’s coming and having young players that are coming up the pathway as well, and we want to be able to incorporate them into the squad and see how they react under training circumstances and probably even get some minutes in matches, as you have seen in the last campaign and the last camps that we have had. We had some younger players enter the field; they like Brayan Wharton and Walker Shabazz… We are looking to continue that.”
The Italian-Canadian Bonofiglio has served Guyana for several years, leading the National Under-17 team and as assistant coach to the Golden Jaguars.