By Rawle Toney

CHRISTOPHER Nurse, captain of Guyana’s Senior National football team, is making it clear that selection to the Golden Jaguars will not be a ‘walk in the park’, as the team begins preparation for the CFU Caribbean Cup Championship. While Nurse highlighted that as captain, he has little input in the composition of the team, he believes “with the STAG Elite League up and running, competition for a spot (on the team) will increase; some new faces have arrived to challenge for places”
Alpha United’s forward Delon Lanferman, according to Nurse, and based on his showing so far in Guyana’s domestic football, is among a host of locally based players who are in contention for selection, along with Pele FC’s talisman Gregory Richardson.
Samuel Cox, the UK-based defender, and Real Salt Lake’s newest addition Emery Welshman, have already signalled their intention to represent Guyana if called by head coach Jamaal Shabazz, but Nurse insisted, “no one’s place is guaranteed! That is the pressure and environment necessary for success”.
“It does not matter where you play, when you arrive; with the national team it’s a level playing field and the coaches I am sure will select the best squad, with the best dynamics to be successful come March 21,” Nurse said.
The 31-year-old central midfield player further told Chronicle Sport that “something that will be taken into consideration is the form of players. A lot of the teams are at different stages in their season right now. For some, it is mid-season, for others it is pre-season. That is something the coaches will consider when selecting the best 11 to play the game”.
Guyana will compete in the 2016/2017 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup tournament, drawn in Group 5 alongside Puerto Rico and Anguilla.
The Scotiabank-sponsored championship will kick off in March (21-29) with all of the countries under the CFU, except Haiti, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, who are all still participating in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Round two of the Championship is scheduled for May and Round three in October. The 5th Place playoff will take place in November and the final in May 2017. The top four teams will qualify to the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Nurse, who played last season with Carolina Railhawks in the North American Soccer League (NASL) – one tier below the MLS – said that he’s been focusing more on his “own training and preparation “working with my agent on contract situation for next season, which I am glad to say finally looks like it has been resolved”.
In 2008, Nurse made his International debut with the Golden Jaguars. Despite only five goals in his 47 caps, English-born Nurse is the only national team captain to score a goal in a World Cup qualifier and is the only captain with four qualifiers win.