– Lady Jaguars to begin World Cup qualifiers March 3

The Lady Jaguars will start their stride to Germany in 2011 on March 3 at the GCC ground against Suriname as the first leg of the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers begins for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) affiliates.

A squad of 22 has been short-listed by the local and overseas coaches and, according to president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Colin Klass; the overseas contingent of 16 should arrive in Guyana by February 27.

Approximately $14M was budgeted for the team’s participation in the first leg of the qualifiers which will see the team grouped with Cuba, Suriname and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

At a press conference yesterday hosted at the GFF head office it was disclosed that systems are already in place to aggressively target corporate Guyana for its assistance.

Meanwhile, Klass said that while the GFF has been benefiting from an annual subvention from its parent body FIFA (with 15% of that amount being for women’s football) its activity for last year would have seen them doubling that amount for the running of its first Women’s League.

Declaring that FIFA’s contribution was basically for development the GFF boss said:”You go into the international sojourn, they (FIFA) would expect that some coordination and cooperation take place and that is why we are saying from what the budget looks like, … even though the GFF would be able to do a little, we would be unable to carry that and the women because remember we are talking about several phases.”

Klass informed the media yesterday that some of the country’s top businesses have already been written to.

He also pointed out that the GFF was at present in discussions with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) which has been showing a keen interest in football and its development and also Guyana’s participation in the Women’s World Cup.

The longstanding GFF boss said that they will be meeting soon with the government, who through the Ministry of Sport is having weekly engagements with the various federations and sports associations.

Klass said the GFF intends to unfold some of their plans and will attempt to have the fullest cooperation from the government in their World Cup drive.

“I believe that based on the cooperation in recent times that we have been having, that some form of contribution would be made but in terms of the magnitude, I don’t know. The major sponsors like Banks DIH, who are very committed, Church’s Chicken, the directors and the owners I think they are committed with the programme as they were with the men’s World Cup. But what we need are some new ones to come onboard so the responsibility will not only be shouldered by a few but all of us giving a little, it will eventually become plenty,” said Klass.

Guyana officially began its crusade last year with a three-way tournament featuring Suriname and the overseas-based Guyanese and local ladies.

In the end, the overseas-based Jaguars easily took the title while the locals finished second and Suriname ended at the bottom of the cellar.

It was from this tournament that the Technical Director Mark Rodrigues along with the two coaches Chris Brown and Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover came up with the best possible players who they feel can take Guyana to the June 26 – July 7 tournament which will feature 16 teams from six confederations.

The GFF president believes that the chances of Guyana going all the way is immense because unlike the men’s team, the countries participating are few although the competition is expected to be close.

He said a lot would depend on the expertise of the overseas-based ladies, most of whom are high achievers at the US and Canadian collegiate level, since they have been exposed to competition at some of the highest levels.

“The most important thing now is ensuring the physical fitness is up to par and once they are physically fit, I think we can go all the way because they have demonstrated the skills and ability and with the technical team that has been put together can ensure that because many of them have been part of the US Olympic Women’s training squad, so they know what needs to be done and the support also is very important so in the end I think they stand a good chance,” said Klass.