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Guyana friendly a useful test for Boyz, says Burrell
Football chief Captain Horace Burrell says Jamaica’s friendly international against Guyana on May 18 will not only provide a stern test, but will form a critical part of the technical programme leading to World Cup qualifiers set to kick off June 8 against Guatemala in Kingston.
The May match-up, slated for the Montego Bay Sports Complex with a proposed 8:00 pm start, will also give western football fans the opportunity to see a number of Jamaica’s UK-based stars on show and to get a glimpse of a Guyana team that has seen a surge in regional football in the recent past.
Captain Horace Burrell
Like Jamaica, Guyana’s Golden Jaguars have booked their place in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF qualifiers by eliminating a former Caribbean kingpin Trinidad and Tobago in Caribbean play-offs, and they have since demonstrated that it was no fluke with their steady climb and overall growth in the regional game.
“Guyana has improved significantly over the past two years and this is now positively reflected in the FIFA Rankings table (at 97),” said Burrell, the JFF president.
“When Guyana defeated Trinidad & Tobago to qualify for the semi-final round of World Cup Qualifiers it did not come as a surprise to me as they are definitely a team on the up,” he added.
Apart from giving the team another match-up in its pre-World Cup build-up phase, Burrell believes Guyana will offer a feel of Antigua and Barbuda, who are grouped with the Boyz in the CONCACAF eliminations.
“Jamaica will play Antigua twice in the semi-final round of the World Cup Qualifiers and therefore playing Guyana is an excellent match-up for the players and technical staff. This will provide very useful insight into what to expect from our Caribbean colleagues, given the similarity in style and culture, and will also allow the coaches to start working on the chemistry of our team,” said Burrell, the visionary leader behind all of Jamaica’s prior World Cup qualifications.
Jamaica are expected to have available to them a number of their British-based professionals.
Among those who should be free from club duties at the time are Ricardo Fuller, Claude Davis, Omar Daley, Damian Stewart, Keammar Daley, Christopher Humphrey (debut), Nathan Smith, Marlon King and Marvin Elliott.
“We previously agreed the game with Guyana for a date in April, but a change of date was requested to allow the availability of that country’s UK-based professional players. This would, therefore, mean they will be at full strength for the international friendly with us.
“And as I have always maintained, Jamaica will also try to have its best available players on the field at all times, therefore it is our aim to have our top players in the UK for this game and consequent match-ups leading into the qualifiers,” Burrell said.
The Boyz have also confirmed a home-and-away series with Panama on May 27 at the National Stadium, with a return match organised just last week for Panama City on June 1. Jamaica, the number one Caribbean side currently ranked 47th by FIFA, were busy in February with three matches, then cooling off with a single engagement in March.
For the February matches, they defeated Cuba (1-0 and 3-0) in Kingston and Montego Bay, then closed out the month with a 3-2 win away to New Zealand. In March, they played to a 0-0 draw with Central America’s Costa Rica inside the National Stadium, also known as ‘The Office’.
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