The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has announced that the CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s Qualifiers Tournament, scheduled for May 23-27 at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora, has been included in the calendar of events of the Guyana Independence Carnival, while at the same, the Federation released its 25-member provisional ‘Lady Jags’ squad.
This was revealed at a press conference held at the GFF Secretariat by President Wayne Forde, who shared the head table along with Ian Greenwood, GFF’s Technical Director, and Kerwin Bollers, Director – Guyana Carnival.
In giving brief remarks, Bollers said his team was happy to partner with the GFF and is eager about sports being part of the event.
“One of the things we want to introduce to our Guyana Carnival is the aspect of sport, so when we heard about what the GFF is doing, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to also partner with them, especially based on the fact that we’ll have teams coming in from across the Caribbean to participate,” Bollers said.
“Having teams in Guyana is one thing, but if we can expose them to our culture – our music, our food – and have them have a good time while they’re here, I think that will go a far way as they’re won’t be just here to play football, but also get some entertainment.”
Greenwood said 26 players are part of the provisional squad, set to face tough opposition.
“We’ve got Bermuda in the first game which we feel will be our toughest opposition. They’ve got some strong players they’ll be bringing in from the UK as well. We played Suriname recently and we feel we missed a few golden opportunities to put that game to bed so we know a lot about Suriname, we are very confident going into that game. Our final game is against Barbados, they will be fairly strong with an influx of some players from the USA as well.”
Greenwood added, “The squad is being developed through the new coaching staff. The players based in Guyana are coming through the GFF-Scotiabank Academy Training Centres, which is something we have never had before, that is, having this number of Guyana-based players in the squad. We also have to stress that these players are in on merit as opposed to being tokens and coming along for the ride. We have players now that can start international fixtures. We’ve proven that a few weeks ago in Trinidad so we’re confident in what we’re trying to put together. We’re very confident that the players will represent Guyana extremely well and it’s a great mix of players, playing professionally, in college and also in Guyana as well.”
Forde said this partnership is historic; he is happy to partner with Guyana Carnival team and is confident of Guyana’s performance in the tournament. He encouraged support for the tournament.
“A lot of work has been done behind the scenes to prepare our team to find the right mix to implement the right strategies to get to this point…three exciting days of competition. We want to encourage all Guyana to come and support the team.”
The squad, consisting of nine Guyana-based and 16 overseas-based players, includes three Goalkeepers, eight Defenders, nine Midfielders and six Forwards. The international-based players are scheduled to arrive in Guyana on May 18 and the squad will have its first training session later on the same evening.
The tournament will feature a double-header on match days at 17:00h and 19:30h.
May 23- Barbados vs Suriname and Guyana vs Bermuda
May 25- Bermuda vs Barbados and Suriname vs Guyana
May 27- Suriname vs Bermuda and Barbados vs Guyana
According to the GFF, discounted packages, including tickets, will be offered to patrons interested in participating in both events.
