Jaguars on track for 1st Gold Cup appearance - Fruta finally conquerors of elite league

Jaguars on track for 1st Gold Cup appearance – Fruta finally conquerors of elite league

Jan 06, 2019 Sports

Fruta Conquerors Jermin Junor (left) created many chances on the left flank during his team’s championship season.

Ryan Hackett -Fruta Conquerors, was one of the better players in the league.

Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s national men’s football team, are poised to qualify for the first time to play in the region’s biggest stage, Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) Gold Cup.
The Concacaf Gold Cup is scheduled to be hosted at 17 venues across 16 cities in the United States of America (USA) from June 15th to July 7th, this year, and will feature a total of 16 teams; an expansion from the usual 12.
Concacaf Nations League
The six teams that reached the final round of the Concacaf 2018 World Cup qualifiers have gained automatic qualification to the Gold Cup, while the top 10 teams from the region’s inaugural Nations League will fill the remaining places.
With the home team’s fourth and final round set for March 23 at the National Track and Field Center (NTFC), Leonora, against Belize, a win for the Golden Jaguars who are currently ranked eighth out of the 34 teams, will almost certainly secure qualification for the Guyanese that have a good goal difference of +10.
Guyana have 6 points from three games played, including two wins and a loss. The Golden Arrowhead’s opening clash against Barbados had finished 2-2 but a ruling from FIFA saw the Bajans forfeiting the match 3-0 after their striker Hallam Hope, who plies his trade with England’s league two side Carlisle United, was found ineligible. Hope had scored both goals during the 2-2 draw.
A statement on Concacaf’s website read, “After due examination of the evidence, the committee determined that the Barbados Football Association infringed the applicable articles of the tournament regulations and the regulations governing the application of the FIFA Statutes in relation to the eligibility of players to play for representative teams by fielding ineligible players Hallam Hope and Krystian Pearce.”
The statement also said: “In accordance with Articles 55 and 31 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the Barbados Football Association is considered to have lost the match against Guyana by a score of 3-0.”

Sampson Gilbert, Fruta Conquerors head coach.

The Jaguars second fixture which was away to Turks & Caicos produced an emphatic 8-0 victory with Sheldon Holder and Emery Welshman both netting hat-tricks, while Trayon Bobb bagged a brace and Kadell Daniel scoring the eighth.
However, the penultimate round saw Guyana losing 2-1 to French Guiana but the men in yellow & green are still in with a good chance to qualify for the Gold Cup but a win against Belize in March is the prerequisite.
Elite league
After three seasons, Fruta Conquerors Football Club (FC FC) that has been perennially competitive in recent years, placing major emphasis on developing young players, won the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Elite league for the first time.
Under the stewardship of new coach Sampson Gilbert, the Tucville based club won the competition with a game to spare, booking its place in the reformatted 2019 Concacaf club champions’ competition.
Dethroned champions, GDF managed a second place finish, while Den Amstel finished third with much help from Delon Lanferman, who emerged as the league’s top goals scorer with 18 successful strikes. Western Tigers, who were leading the league at the January transfer break in 2018, lost their form but were able to finished fourth.
According to Chairman of the GFF competitions committee, Ian Alves, Cougars Football Club (CFC) that finished last in the league will be relegated while ninth place New Amsterdam United will enter a play off with the respective winners of member associations’ (MA) competitions.
Ten teams contested season III of the elite league with $5million being received by the champions, $2million for the runners up, $1million for Den Amstel and $500,000 for the fourth place finishers.
The commencement date for season four is yet to be determined.