Minister Ramson joins GFF President, staff for Concacaf FIFA WC Qatar 2022 Draw

Aug 20, 2020 Sports

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– Both excited with Guyana’s prospects after drawn in Group F

In a significant setting, new Minister of Sport, Charles Ramson Jr., yesterday joined Guyana Football Federation President Wayne Forde along with other Executive Members, Technical Director Ian Greenwood and other staff to view the Preliminary Draw for Concacaf FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers which was streamed live from the Home of FIFA, Zurich.
The new Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will comprise of three rounds and provide all participating Member Associations with the chance to compete for the Confederation’s three and a half World Cup spots.
The First Round will be played between the Concacaf Member Associations ranked 6-35 based on the FIFA Men’s Ranking as of July 16, 2020.
Absorbing the activity in the Board Room of the GFF, Dadanawa Street, Section’K’ Campbellville, the officials observed Guyana being drawn in Group F along with arch-rivals Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, a group that will surely see some mouthwatering match-ups as every nation will be going after the lone qualifying spot available for the next round.
The ‘Golden Jaguars’ will no doubt fancy their chances of finally booking their place at the FIFA World Cup, a dream that has been elusive in the 100 year’s plus history of the GFF.
But hope is alive and well and President Forde has stated emphatically that the Federation will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that this dream finally becomes reality. Both Forde and Minister Ramson are excited for their nation and have pledged to complement each other towards

this end.
Minister Ramson expressed his delight: “I personally think it gives Guyana a more than fair opportunity to be able to advance and of course advancing means a little bit more attention so let’s see how it goes, I think it looks good.”
Forde in expressing gratitude to Minister Ramson for sharing the moment with the GFF stated that the nation could not have asked for a better draw and its chances are just as good as any other nation in the group.
He posited that they would be preparing well and be ready for competitive from the first whistle.
“As we like to say in football these days, there are no small teams, many of the countries especially in the Caribbean have been scouting the diaspora to find second and third generation players that can represent the national teams. We’ve utilised that in the past while we emphasise the development of our local players.”
Forde noted that those players that are bred in the international football environment brings a different level of professionalism and quality to the game. He admitted that this campaign will by no means be easy for Guyana but he is confident that the ‘Golden Jaguars’ will be up to the task.
“If the October window remains open we have a few weeks to prepare, we’re trusting that the covid-19 situation can be brought under control and

we can get our national team back into training.”
The GFF boss renewed his call for all the stakeholders to get on board and support: “We take this opportunity to ask corporate Guyana and the government of Guyana to, once we complete our preparation plan, to come on board and give us all the support that they can to make all of Guyana proud and to give football the opportunity to bring this beautiful nation together at this opportune time.”
Minister Ramson continued that what’s important to himself and Forde is to develop Guyanese talent using the sport as that vehicle; positing that there’s a lot of hidden talent in the bosom of the nation.
“All around the country, in many of the regions where its unexplored and I think that avenues like this really create the enthusiasm, the excitement and the vehicle for us to be able to find that talent and be able to showcase that to the world.”
Ramson, himself and avid sports lover, reminded that this international event will bring lots of attention to Guyana.
“This time for a good reason and so we want to make sure that we use the avenues where there is an opportunity to showcase Guyana’s talent for positive things; this would be a good way to do it and this is just the beginning. I hope Wayne and the entire GFF, FIFA as well as Concacaf and everybody knows that we want to be able to promote football here as part of the government’s programme and overall, working in a collaborative way.
Sport is important to the President, sports is important to me and we don’t only want to say it, we want to show it. And that’s why I wanted to make the time to be able to be here with you when Guyana is being drawn and where it’s going to play. So, expect to be hearing from me just as I expect to be hearing from you.”
Based on the schedule released by Concacaf yesterday, Guyana will play their opening match against Trinidad and Tobago’s ‘Soca Warriors’ on Thursday October 8th and five days later will host the Bahamas on Tuesday October 13th here.
Friday November 13th, the Golden Jaguars will oppose host nation Saint Kitts and Nevis and will welcome Puerto Rico on Tuesday November 17th.
The other Group are as follows: Group A: El Salvador, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Montserrat, United States Virgin Islands
Group B: Canada, Suriname, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Aruba
Group C: Curacao, Guatemala, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Cuba, British Virgin Islands
Group D: Panama, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Dominica, Anguilla
Group E: Haiti, Nicaragua, Belize, Saint Lucia, Turks and Caicos Islands

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