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Scotiabank CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup …Kaieteur Sports raps GFF Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz on preparations
By Franklin Wilson
With Guyana set to take on the might of Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz at the Guyana National Stadium
Jamaal Shabazz
Providence and old nemesis Suriname in crucial third round fixtures of the CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup in just over 4-weeks time, Kaieteur Sport reached out to Guyana Football Federation Head Coach for an update on plans.
KS – When are you as Head Coach going to be naming your team to commence preparations ahead of next month’s crucial qualifiers?
JS – We plan to assemble the squad of players by the weekend to begin training. However, several of the top locals are in the USA presently so we will start with a younger crew.
KS – Given the high level of competition expected, which players will constitute the make-up of the team?
JS – We want to select our best possible team which will be punctuated by who are our most active and match ready players. Local clubs have been off to a slow start and this will certainly have a negative effect on the locally based players. I am not seeing everyone being on the same page at the moment therefore when it comes to naming our best possible team that worries me.
KS – In the recent past, lots of the local based players were given an opportunity to stake a claim for selection as a direct result of the Stag Elite League. With quite a long layoff from this league and its re-start, would you be going a similar route?
JS – The locally based players are slow in learning the lessons of keeping a good fitness base in the offseason. A couple players have been doing some work but most of them need to push themselves harder. The lay off from the Elite League has to do with issues of funding and logistics. In football the players have a responsibility to keep a good physical base.
KS – What are your views on the level of opposition in terms of the two teams you would be facing at home and then away?
JS – We are playing two formidable opponents and it will really be an uphill
Some of the Golden Jaguars which faced Canada who will be in contention for a spot in the Squad for next month.
task especially if our preparations don’t step up.
Suriname will always be an arch rival as our border neighbours, while Jamaica is a very active team with tremendous international experience.
KS – Are you satisfied with the time that the team would have to prepare ahead of these all important matches?
JS – Time is the most precious commodity in international football. It is the big difference between coaching at the club and the national team level. I am one who complies and then complains. At the moment I feel like we have been given a fork to fight Goliath who possesses nuclear armaments.
But then again the battle between David and Goliath was not won based on superiority in weaponry. These are difficult times but we must accept that there must be no excuse for committing ourselves to the task at hand.
KS – Any word on the foreign based players?
JS – We have good and also challenging news on the foreign based players. We are hearing good things about Adrian Butters, Shaquille Agard, Julian Edwards in the Canadian League. Plus Kadell Daniel and Marcel Barrington have grabbed our attention in the UK.
We want to reach back out to skipper Chris Nurse; Sam Cox has found a club, while Walter Moore is on fire in Finland.
However, Briggs, Emery Welshman and Neil Danns may all be out due to injury.
KS – Rumours are circulating that you may consider quitting can you shed some light?
JS – I am not a quitter but I am seriously looking at my future after this tournament. I hope to sit with the GFF next week and determine how necessary if at all, I am in the equation going forward. I have given 10 years of my life to Guyana football in 3 overall stints. Maybe there is an opportunity for both the GFF and I to do something different with our football lives after these two very important matches.
At the moment I am very focused on preparing for the two matches against Suriname and Jamaica.
KS – What are your predictions for the matches against Jamaica and Suriname?
JS – In football you cannot predict the future but you know the importance of good preparation. Things are not ideal but I am prepared to give 100% despite the challenges and would push the team to do same. In 2001 Trinidad and Tobago had a superior preparation to us but it came down to who wanted it more on the day. I would not bet against the Golden Jaguars despite the challenges that we face.
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