The Executive Committee of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Marcio Maximo have reached a mutual and amicable agreement that his current contract as Head Coach of the Guyana Senior Men’s National Team will not be renewed when it comes to an end on August 31, 2021.
The agreement comes in light of the fact that, following the Concacaf Gold Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the Golden Jaguars will not take part in competitive football until May 2022, when the Concacaf Nations League resumes.
This period will allow the Executive Committee to reflect on and align the senior men’s national programme with its strategic objectives.
“We are grateful for the hard work, experience, energy and commitment that Coach Maximo brought to the programme over the last two years, especially his commendable efforts in developing Guyana-based players and introducing promising young talent such as Omari Glasgow and Nicholai Andrews early to the professional culture of international football,” said GFF President Wayne Forde.
“We cannot escape the fact that results did not materialise as we would have wanted this year, but there have been many positives during his time in charge – including a memorable draw away to Jamaica and some big wins during the Concacaf Nations League,” Forde said.
“Coach Maximo’s relentless focus on renewing the squad and building a professional national team structure in Guyana has laid solid foundations for the future growth of programme. On behalf of Guyana and our football fraternity, we thank him for his service and wish him all the very best for what comes next.”
The GFF will announce its decision regarding a new Head Coach for the Golden Jaguars in the coming weeks.
Former Brazil U-20 and U-17 coach Maximo took up the post in 2019 following the Golden Jaguars historic first appearance at the Concacaf Gold Cup, and oversaw a total of 12 international matches, including competitive and friendly fixtures in the Concacaf Nations League B, FIFA World Cup qualifiers and Concacaf Gold Cup. During that time, Guyana won five, drew one and lost six international games.
“I am very grateful and proud to work here … I am very happy with what we did – of course, always you want more,” Maximo said in an exclusive interview with the GFF’s media channel, GFFNOW. The full GFFNOW RoundUp video interview can be accessed for download via the link here or viewed on the GFF’s official Facebook page. “I’ve enjoyed it, but I’m professional – the cycle is finished and you should move on,” the former Livingston FC (Scotland) and Tanzania coach said.
“My cycle as Head Coach of the Golden Jaguars is finished, but the cycle continues. We did the foundation here, now they should work on this continuously because the Golden Jaguars have a brilliant future. There is no other way for Guyana: You should renew the team and you should continue in this way.”
“We jumped nine places in the FIFA ranking since we arrived, we renewed the team – if you continue like that you will jump more and soon Guyana, in one or two years, can play equal conditions with the best teams in the Caribbean, with a younger team, and can produce a lot of players to export and import players at a good level.”
This year, the Golden Jaguars were unable to progress to the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification process and were also knocked out at the preliminary round stage of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, meaning that the senior men’s national programme fell short of key performance targets set by the GFF. (GFF)