By Avenash Ramzan
President Wayne Forde said the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) will not make hasty decisions regarding personnel in the senior national Men’s team set-up, given the country’s early exit from the Concacaf 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
The Golden Jaguars were knocked out in the first round, finishing fourth in Group F, which comprised five teams.
Marcio Maximo’s side won just one game, and President Forde said the Federation will continue to assess the work of the Head Coach.
“With regards to personnel, those are discussions that we will not have prematurely. But we understand clearly the task ahead of us and everything is being done to ensure we undertake those assignments with the full support of all involved,” Forde said at a media briefing on Tuesday at the National Training Centre at Providence.
Guyana started the World Cup Qualifier campaign with the aim of advancing to the second round, but those plans did not materialise, following 3-0 defeats to Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis and a 2-0 loss to Puerto Rico.
The Golden Jaguars lone success- a 4-0 result- came against The Bahamas.
The lackluster showing resulted in calls in some quarters for Maximo to be sacked, much like Trinidad and Tobago did by replacing their Head Coach Terry Fenwick with Interim Coach Angus Eve.
Trinidad and Tobago finished ahead of Guyana in Group F, occupying second position behind St. Kitts and Nevis, who qualified for the second round.
“We don’t compare the actions that we take here at the GFF with other countries. They all have their own unique circumstances that they have to treat with,” Forde explained.
“What I would like to say to the general public, and those who may have expressed their views about the Head Coach future with Guyana’s football, is that we have to bring much more to bear in our deliberation and consideration before we make those very significant decisions.”
“The fans and the public, as one would expect, their expectation is consistent high performance, and as I would have said in my statement, we were unable to do that this time around. But that does not mean that we will make hasty decisions before we would have considered all the factors, so the leadership of the GFF will continue to examine the entire programme and the decisions that are necessary to give us the results that not only we expect, but the nation expects will be made as the situation demands.”
Gold Cup Prelims
The senior national team’s next assignment is participation in the Concacaf Gold Cup Prelims. The Golden Jaguars will face Guatemala on July 3 in Miami.
The draw for the Prelims involved the 12 national teams, which earned a place in the Gold Cup Qualifiers through their performances in the Concacaf Nations League group stage, which was played in September, October and November 2019.
This includes the bottom placed finishers in League A groups, the runners-up in League B groups and the winners of League C groups.
The top six teams based on the Concacaf Ranking were pre-seeded into match-ups one through six, and the next six were drawn from a single pot.
The Prelim games are: Haiti vs St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Guatemala vs Guyana; Trinidad vs Montserrat; Cuba vs French Guiana; Guadeloupe vs The Bahamas; and Bermuda vs Barbados.
After direct elimination play over three match-days between July 2 through July 6, 2021, the 12 teams will be reduced to a final three who will qualify for the Gold Cup Group Stage.
Based on the draw, should Guyana beat Guatemala, they would go on to face either Guadeloupe or The Bahamas. If they win that second contest, they will qualify in Group C.
