While acknowledging the importance of the win over The Bahamas to preserve their perfect record in the 2023–2024 CONCACAF Nations League, Golden Jaguars head coach Jamal Shabazz lambasted the quality of the National Track and Field Centre playing surface, which serves as the home venue for Guyana’s campaign.
These sentiments were echoed following the conclusion of Guyana’s second match in League B of the CONCACAF Nations League on Tuesday. The Golden Jaguars defeated The Bahamas 3-2 in their first home match of the competition to maintain their perfect record and keep pace with group leader Puerto Rico, who sit atop the standings via a superior goal difference. The Guyanese defeated Antigua and Barbuda 5-1 in their first outing.
Shabazz explained, “I’m very happy for the win, putting us on six points, [but] I would have preferred to play on another ground in another country and give up our home advantage for a good pitch for players to play on. We must think about facilities; this was a horrible pitch, and I think it solely affected the way we wanted to play. The job of the players is to play, and the job of the coach is to try to create a team that can win and do its best. Whose job is it for us to have a proper facility to play? This is terrible; this is totally unacceptable. And I prefer that until we get better facilities, it’s better for Guyana to play its home games away from home.”
He added, “Every player struggled; every player complained. This is not what a coach would like to be talking about at the end of a game. Of course, it’s easy to say we barely won 3-2 against The Bahamas; ok, you can write that, but what’s the reality? Did you guys go on the pitch? We just came from playing Antigua and Barbuda on a beautiful ground in hot conditions, and you know what? We were able to play football. One of the fundamental things about playing football is a football pitch, and we don’t have that, which is so unfortunate. The blame game can start from now until 2025; it’s not my business. I dream of the day when Guyana will have a proper surface to play football on. I cannot answer anything else about football because I did not think much football was played on this surface. I am so sorry.”
The Golden Jaguars will resume their campaign in October with two matches against Puerto Rico. The Guyanese will travel to Puerto Rico on October 14th before hosting the reverse fixture three days later. The Golden Jaguars’ final two matches will occur on November 18th and November 21st, respectively, against The Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda. In the 2022–2023 edition, Guyana ended up in second place with 10 points. In the inaugural 2019–2020 edition, Guyana finished in the runner-up spot in league B with nine points.
According to CONCACAF, a format change was implemented for the 2023–2024 edition, which resulted in no relegation of teams following the end of the 2022–2023 season.
League A has been increased from 12 to 16 teams and will feature a quarterfinal section. The 12 lowest-ranked teams in League A will feature in a group stage comprising two pools of six, with the resulting group winner and runner-up advancing to the elimination section alongside the USA, Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica. The quarterfinal fixtures will utilize a home-and-away format.
The fifth and sixth-placed teams at the end of the group stage in League A will be relegated. Meanwhile, League C has been reduced from 12 to nine teams. The competing nations will be divided into three groups of three, with the resulting group winners and the best second-placed team in the division advancing to League B.
