Following on the heels of an historic visit to Brazil last week where Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President, Wayne Forde, met with Brazilian Football Federation (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol – CBF) President Rogerio Caboclo, the Brazilian partnership has already begun to bear fruits.
The GFF is proud to announce that Ryan Hackett of Fruta Conquerors, Kelsey Benjamin of Georgetown Football Club) and Sese Norville of Milerock FC in Linden will spend one month at Brazilian second-division side, Madureira Esporte Clube, where they will undergo pre-season training.
The trio, who have been part of the senior national Golden Jaguars set-up, will be exposed to another level of training over a four-week period with the possibility of landing a Pro-Contract based on their performances during the period of exposure.
As a matter of fact, the trio would have been part of the historic Brazil Tran and Play Camp last August when the Senior National Team spent two weeks there and would have played against the said club in a practice match.
In hailing this historic venture, President Forde said that this is the first of many such initiatives and the goal of the GFF, which has also presented an MoU to CBF President Rogerio Caboclo aimed at holistic development of the sport on and off the field of play, is to ensure that as much as 40 players between the ages of 18-22 gain exposure in Brazil over the coming months and years.
“Ideally, we would prefer to have the players enter into the Brazilian Football system much younger, but unfortunately, language challenges, immigration laws and parental consideration are yet to be fully explored,” Forde said.
He added, “The GFF is very pleased that our work to develop a partnership with our Brazilian neighbours has started to bear fruit. This is a wonderful opportunity for the players ahead of our preparations for the Olympic Under-23 Qualifying competition in July. I would like to join the rest of Guyana in congratulating these players and wish them every success whilst in Brazil.”
President Forde, in also offering congratulations to the management of the respective clubs, Milerock FC, Georgetown Football Club and Fruta Conquerors and thanking them for the work they have put into moulding these players, indicated that the young Guyanese will likely feature in a friendly match Madureira Esporte Clube would play against the Qatar national team on June 9.
Qatar was invited along with Japan to play in the world’s oldest continental tournament – Copa America, the 46th edition of the event which will be played in six stadiums across five cities in Brazil. The stadiums are Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paulo.
The opening is set for the Morumbi Stadium (Sao Paulo) while the final will be held at the Maracaná Stadium (Rio de Janeiro).
