Guyana’s Male Under-20 football team finished in the penultimate spot in their group at the recently concluded Concacaf Under-20 Championship Qualifiers.
One win, a draw and two defeats meant they could not progress to the championships’ main draw as they finished third in the group. They needed to top the group to progress to the main championship for the first time.
Based in Antigua, Guyana’s campaign comprised 0-4 loss to the hosts, a 2-2 draw with El Salvador, 1-4 defeat to Suriname and a 2-1 victory over Turks and Caicos in their final match.
Speaking to News Room Sport on Monday, Head Coach Kayode McKinnon contended that while it is not an excuse for the results, an extended preparation period could have yielded a better showing.
In late November 2023, the Guyana Football Federation announced that the former Golden Jaguars player will be the team’s new Head Coach and his first interaction with the preliminary pool of players was in December ahead of the qualifiers that were scheduled for late February to early March.
“Time allows you to see people aligned regarding the high-performance environment and what it requires. So, if you don’t have that, sometimes it is easy to create chaos and hence the cohesiveness [and] camaraderie has not been built or realised”, McKinnon rationalised.
“We now must be more strategic in how we can orchestrate ways to gain more time…it is understanding the ‘why’ then working together to see how you can best gain as much time as possible to get the best out of the situation.”
However, it is not all doom and gloom, as the Head Coach hopes to use the great teachings of hindsight to reap success in the future. He noted it takes a “national effort” to find the time to develop the right philosophy in a high-performance environment.
The Concacaf U-20 Championship directly qualifies team for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the semi-finalists qualifying for the global event.
The Junior Golden Jaguars roster comprised a blend of former Under-15 national players, local talents who took part in the 2023 NAMILCO Under-17 National Academy Playoffs, and players based in both Trinidad and the United States.
The squad included Goalkeepers Duquain Samuels, Emmanuel Lewis and Julien Casimir; Defenders Gerry-Mayer Burnette, Jaden Thom, Jayden Culley, Kyle Reid, Tyler Lyle, Tyrel Stephen and Tyrese Lyle; Midfielders Hemant Brandon Khedoo, Bryan Wharton, Ezekial Rowland, Kvist Paul, Kymani Sealey, Nathaniel Pydana, Rondesio Tudor, Shemaiah Samuels and Solomon Austin; and Forwards Matrim Martin and Perry Jr Gaul.
Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde said he was proud of the team’s show of commitment and dedication throughout the tournament, adding that “the Federation will continue to invest in the national team programme because we have faith in the talents of our young players.”
“We call on the people of Guyana to keep supporting our emerging footballers.”
