When Guyana’s Golden Jaguars oppose Dominica in their first match of the Digicel Caribbean Championship Friday at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, they will be putting all challenges behind them and focusing on a victory.
These were the words of technical director of the Jaguars, Trinidadian Jamal Shabazz during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports at his residence yesterday leading up to the game.
“We will be putting all challenges behind us and focusing on the job at hand as the Digicel Cup is an important part of the rebuilding process of Guyana’s football. This is so as there are cadres of players who are at the evening of their careers e.g. Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard, Collie Hercules and Richard Reynolds, whilst another cadre of players are waiting to get their international careers going, including Devon Millington, Kanata Manning and Kester Jacobs just to name a few.”
“Even the coaches, myself included, must make way for people like Wayne Dover, Dennis France and Joseph Wilson who are quite capable and with the right exposure, can take Guyana’s football forward,” said Shabazz.
He stated, however, that for the moving forward process to be enacted, Guyana must do well in the upcoming Digicel tournament with a view to redeeming themselves following the loss to Suriname in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.
“We must do well in this tournament, including getting a good result against our nemesis Suriname and advance to the next round of matches in November. And to this effect, we had one session yesterday (Monday) and another this morning (yesterday) with the final session being scheduled for this afternoon (Tuesday) at the National Stadium.”
“We had the full squad yesterday morning and the guys were very enthusiastic about the session. But I must say that I am not impressed with the level of fitness displayed by them and I would have liked for it to be higher than where it is right now.”
When questioned on the availability of overseas players in the likes of Howard and Richard Newton along with Randolph Jerome, the technical director was quick to point out that even though Jerome was issued with a ticket by the GFF, he has not made himself available while only Howard Newton’s services was being sought by the GFF for this encounter.
“We are trying to get Howard Newton to join the squad and there is a possibility that he will be here in time for the second game against Suriname. But we will include a couple of locally based players and even though Randolph Jerome has a ticket issued to him by the GFF, for some unknown reason he is not here and if he does not want it, Devon Millington, Dwight Peters and Kevin Beaton want it and these youngsters are thirsty for football and such a thirst can only be quenched with international exposure,” stated Shabazz, who is also head coach of AIE Caledonia football club in Trinidad.
Shabazz further expressed his delight at what he had seen so far in the team’s training sessions, stating that the team was very motivated and hungry for football even though they will be playing under lights at the stadium for the first time.
“Our guys are motivated to play and we welcome the challenge of playing under the lights as we are a bunch of professionals and we are placed in a position to give of our best. With the two sessions that we have had so far, we had to rely a lot on what we have done in the past and the effort and determination are two deciding factors in us getting a good result against Dominica.”
Total effort
Shabazz emphasized that ”We cannot guarantee anything else but a total effort going into this match. Allah will decide if Guyana deserves to go forward whilst our job is to do everything possible to bring the result.”
The Jaguars will be without the services of Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson who despite having recovered from an injury, has decided to opt out of this tournament as he seeks to reclaim his starting position on his club team that has a new coach at the helm.
However, they do have the services of Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington who scored the lone goal in the 2010 World Cup qualifying tournament for Guyana and also found the net on 10 occasions for his team AIE Caledonia and Collie Hercules who like Codrington, has found the net eight times for his team Tobago.
The two can expect valuable assistance from Anthony Abrams and Devon Millington respectively at the top with Walter ‘Boyd’ Moore, Dwight Peters, and Kwesi Johnson as well as Glen Ovan who has been drafted into the squad following his display and ball control in the midfield during the training sessions.
Long-serving Kanata Manning will add some life to the midfield with Kester Jacobs in the absence of Kayode Mc Kinnon who is expected to take the field against Suriname on Sunday, Abassi Mc Pherson, Howard Lowe, Carey Harris and skipper Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard shoring up the defence.
Richard Reynolds has always been the first choice custodian and is expected to take his place between the uprights ahead of Alpha United’s Ronson Williams who has replaced Andrew Durant in the squad. Shabazz said that he is pleased with the composition of the squad.
“I am pleased with what I have been given on the technical side of it. These guys are professionals now and people in Guyana must appreciate that players like Hercules, Pollard, Mc Kinnon and Reynolds are full-time professionals and I am happy with the commitment they have shown not only to Guyana’s football, but their football lives in general.”
Short preparation
He was quick to state that he is not happy with the short time he has had to prepare the team, while pointing out that only the GFF can say why the team has not been training before yesterday (Monday).
“I prefer not to comment on why the local-based players were not able to train and such is best left to the GFF. I would not be drawn into losing my focus on this Digicel championship. However in the future I would recommend that a cadre of locally-based players at the under-23 and under-20 level be periodically encamped for a locally-based national team for the future.”
