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Dover calls Golden Jaguars’ World Cup exit “heartbreaking”
…focus shifts to rebuilding
Coach Wayne Dover shares a light moment with President Irfaan Ali following Guyana’s 3 – 0 win over Montserrat.
By Rawle Toney
Kaieteur sports – Guyana’s narrow 1–0 loss to Nicaragua, which sealed their exit from the FIFA 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, was described as “heartbreaking” by Head Coach Wayne Dover.
Serving as interim manager of the Golden Jaguars, Dover took time to thank his players for a valiant effort during their campaign, which featured moments of promise amid tough results.
Guyana wrapped up their group-stage fixtures with two wins and two losses. A heavy 4–1 defeat to Panama and the gut-wrenching 1–0 result against Nicaragua were enough to dash the team’s hopes of progressing.
However, there were bright spots; a convincing 3–1 victory over Belize and a commanding 3–0 win against Montserrat in front of a home crowd at the National Track and Field Centre.
Reflecting on the match that ended their run, Dover didn’t hold back, “That was heartbreaking, because we lost that game One-nil and that would’ve given us a chance to go forward, and it had given us a bad feelings at the end of that 90 minutes.”
Tuesday’s win over Montserrat, where Nathan Ferguson, Jalen Jones, and Omari Glasgow each found the back of the net, offered a sense of redemption for the Golden Jaguars.
“We knew that we had to come back to Guyana to end the season with a good result, particularly for the fans and the GFF who has made huge investment, and the extended people in the nation,” Dover said.
With no international fixtures scheduled for the remainder of 2025, Dover is now eyeing a long-term rebuild of the national programme. And he’s putting his trust in youth.
“We have to set targets,” Dover said, “we have to give ourselves at least two years to rebuild this team, and then aim to qualify for the Gold Cup; taking it step-by-step…Gold Cup, Nations League, League A and then the World Cup.”
The coach praised the emergence of new talent, including Kvist Paul and Nerron Borrow, who made their senior international debuts during the qualifiers, pointing out that the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Elite League became a key scouting ground for the national team.
“After some players opted out for various reasons, we saw it fit to look into the Elite League to select some of the young players who have been outstanding,” Dover said.
According to the Guyana Police Force FC head coach, he has been paying attention to Paul, who plays his football at Waterhouse FC in the Jamaica Premier League, “and we saw what he was doing in the JPL, and we saw it fitting to give him an opportunity.”
Despite the heartbreak, Dover hopes that upcoming transitional phase could lay the foundation for a stronger unified Golden Jaguars squad in the near future.
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