Suriname came on Wednesday. Dominica arrived yesterday and with host Guyana already in training albeit for a short period, all is set for the commencement of the Digicel Caribbean Championship which had to be rescheduled for a couple of days due to the unavailability of flights for the Dominicans.
Technical Director of Guyana’s Golden Jaguars Trinidadian Jamaal Shabazz told Stabroek Sport in an invited comment via telephone yesterday that his charges were ready and raring to have a go at the Dominicans whom they face in their first game at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence tonight.
“Our guys are very eager and motivated to play and I expect them to work very hard and approach the game in a collective manner, making every effort to get a good result and a good start to the competition. Whilst a positive result is the aim, we want to focus on our performance which would have the result following after.”
The Jaguars will be taking the field against the Dominicans without the services of the Newton brothers in Jake and Howard Newton, Randolph ‘Blackhead’ Jerome, Gregory ’Jackie Chan’ Richardson and the diminutive Kayode Mc Kinnon.
The reason for the absence of the Newton brothers is unknown, whilst Jerome was issued with a ticket by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) but has been a no show at the training camp.
Richardson has recently recovered from an injury and has asked the GFF to be excused as he intends to make the starting XI for his team which is under a new coaching staff, whilst Mc Kinnon is nursing a thigh strain he picked up during the training sessions.
However, they still have the services of Collie ‘Hitman’ Hercules and Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington two forwards who are in form at the moment having found the back of the net eight and 10 times respectively for their professional teams in Trinidad.
They will be ably assisted by Anthony ‘Awo’ Abrams and Devon Millington.
The mid-field will be served by Walter ‘Boyd’ Moore, Dwight Peters, Shawn Bishop, Kanata Manning, Glenovan Edmonds and Edison Gomes whilst skipper Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard, Carey Harris, Howard Lowe, Abassi Mc Pherson and Kester Jacobs would perform duties in defence. The man between the uprights would be first choice custodian Richard Reynolds who can rely on Alpha United’s Ronson Williams for support if needed.Whilst Shabbaz would have loved to have a full strength team to run at the Dominicans tonight, he is still satisfied with the present crop of players whilst disclosing his satisfaction at their ball possession attitude.
“It is no use crying over spilt milk on what we could not have as that is the past. The team to play against Dominica would be the team who revealed the capabilities of getting the job done.”
He added:”We have an enthusiastic bunch of footballers and while we are missing some key players, we have a good chance of ad-vancing from this group. However, I must say that I am not satisfied that this team has displayed the attitude of good ball possession as of other teams in the past. This also has to do with the time on the training pitches, but we expect to see the experience players play their role in this team.”
Klass’ dilemma
When questioned on the scenario the present head of the Guyana football Federa-tion (GFF) Colin Klass is facing with regards to persons calling for his resignation and if same is affecting the players, Shabazz was not hesitant in answering in the affirmative.
“The players have been bothered by persons wanting comments from them on the issue. I myself have been bombarded for comments but right now I am focused on the job at hand and that is the Digicel tournament and leading Guyana through this hurdle. Everyone knows I am no rabbit when it comes to controversy, but my job is to coach the national team and that is what I will be doing.”
The Dominicans, who arrived around midday yesterday, had a practice session at the game venue yesterday afternoon and coach Robertson Hypolite in an invited comment told Stabroek Sport that they are more than happy to be here to play football.
“We were trying to get here since Monday, but unfortunately we could not, but we are here to play football and give the Guyanese public a show for their money. Our chances in this game are similar to that of Guyana who will be having home advantage. Nevertheless, we are going to play 90 minutes of hard football where the result will be there for all to see at the sound of the final whistle.” When asked about their back to back fixtures, Hy-polite stated that it was not a problem as they are here to play football irrespective of the fixtures.
The Dominicans have included a number of players led by their experienced custodian Glenson Prince, Michel Joseph, Kelson Benjamin and Euclid Dertrand who is making his second visit to Guyana with his national team.
Dertrand expressed his delight at finally being here and is eager to showcase his talent for the public tonight.
“I am looking forward to having a great game here in Guyana. This is my second visit and I am eager to play on this pitch which has a comfortable feeling underfoot. We will definitely be looking for a win and advance form this round.”
Amidst all the controversy surrounding Guyana’s football with embattled GFF president Colin Klass being asked to resign, the teams are here along with all the match officials and judging from what was displayed during their practice sessions, nothing more but a high level of football can be anticipated by the Guyanese soccer public who showed their appetite for international football when Guyana played Suriname at the same venue back in June.
Gentlemen, let the battles begin.
