Football News

April 7, 2016

ANGUILLA GAME TO GIVE CREDIBILITY TO STAG ELITE LEAGUE

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21st March, 2016; Georgetown: National Coach Jamaal Shabazz revealed that the majority of the starting lineup for tomorrow’s game against Anguilla will come from the Stag Elite League. Speaking at a media briefing earlier today the vociferous Trinidadian stated, “At least 63.6% of the starting team will be players out of the Stag Elite League and, at most, it could be 82%.”

Shabazz introduced a new paradigm to the management of the team – co-coach and co-captain, which is Mr. Wayne Dover, formerly known as the Assistant Coach and the two captains – Christopher Nurse and Gregory Richardson respectively.

Paying tribute to the coaches in the Elite League, Shabazz said “this speaks volumes of the work that had been done by the local coaches and players and the league. It is so different when you have the league and the players are playing week in and week out… now, the players come in at a level comparable to players who come in from overseas.”

In response to how challenging the job of arriving at the final squad was, Shabazz said, “We’ve set specific criteria in terms of players playing, players active as opposed to who (are) in pre-season, whether a player (is) on the bench with his club or whether he’s starting, how much minutes he’s playing, his form, the ability to conform to tactics, the ability to integrate into the group off the field… (even though) we have set these criteria, that has not eased enough how difficult it is.

In brief remarks, co-coach Mr. Wayne Dover also paid tribute to the Stag Elite League for a competitive squad and said with the inclusion of the overseas-based players, the fans are in “for a moment of greatness”. “We want the fans to know that tomorrow’s game is more about us qualifying and giving them the results that are needed for them to be happy…,” Dover said.

In terms of preparation, co-captain Christopher Nurse said the Golden Jaguars is taking the game very seriously and cautioned the public not to underestimate the Anguilla team. “…we’re doing the right things in training and making sure tomorrow night we go out and give it our best shot…we have a point to prove tomorrow in the game”. He encouraged the fans to support the team.”

Co-captain Richardson said the team has been training hard. He thanked the coach for a good team composition and urged the fans to come and support the game.

Meanwhile, relative to cementing the legacy of the Golden Jaguars in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Shabazz said, “We’re hungry; we’re hungry because we want to succeed. We know we have the potential and the talent; we want to be in the (CONCACAF) Gold Cup because we think we have some of the best players in CONCACAF. This is very important to us and this first game against Anguilla; our life depends on it, our careers depend on it because we want to go to the next level and this is so important to us that we have to do everything to get the result.”

Mr. Shabazz also emphasized the importance of corporate sponsorship.

Meanwhile, Head Coach of the Anguilla National Team, Mr. Leon Jeffers said his team is young but positive. “We have a very young team and I’m positive, I like what we have…the guys have worked hard and this will be a good, good competition for us. All the hard work they put in…we get out of it.”

Captain Kevin Hawley said the Anguilla team is a young team with an average age of 22-23 years and looking forward to doing their best. While they haven’t done much research of the Golden Jaguars they’re confident; “we’re confident in our abilities; confident that we can compete against Guyana and expect a good result. We looking forward to doing our best for our country, our families, ourselves and make the most of this opportunity”. The team manager added that “I think we have done sufficient preparation tactically, technically and also building out strategy for this game against Guyana.”

In closing, Team Manager Nigel Linton said he is positive about this team from the last game…“we’re basically in a rebuilding period…after being eliminated by Nicaragua in the World Cup Qualifier… “…what better way to start our rebuilding than the Caribbean Cup. We came from the league where we basically had two new teams taking over the top rank. The average age of the two team is 23…the majority of the national team squad came from those two young teams.”

Guyana begins its CFU attack against Anguilla in the ScotiaBank 2016 Caribbean Men’s Cup tomorrow at the Guyana National, Stadium, Providence. Game time is 19:00hrs; gates open at 17:00hrs. The second match will be played against Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico on March 29, 2016. Anguilla will play Puerto Rico on March 26 at the Raymond E, Guishard Technical Centre, Anguilla.

Guyana has been placed in Group five (5) of seven (7); countries in Guyana’s grouping include Anguilla and Puerto Rico.

STARTING LISTS OF RESPECTIVE TEAMS

A) GUYANA:

1 Alex Murray
2 Solomon Austin
3 Joshua Browne
4 Kester Jacobs
5 Eon Alleyne
6 Vurlon Mills
7 Gregory Richardson
8 Devon Millington
9 Daniel Wilson
10 Dwight Peters
11 Quincy Adams
12 Walter Moore
13 Samuel Cox
14 Christopher Nurse
15 Trayon Bobb
16 Neil Danns
17 Brandon Beresford
18 Anthony Whyte
19 Clive Nobrega
20 Marcel Barrington

B) ANGUILLA

1 Kevin Hawley
2 Adonijah Richardson
3 Rene’ Thomas
4 Keivois Lake
5 Leo Richardson
6 Ricardo Petty
7 Damian Bailey
8 Khamal Harding-Hodge
9 Alrique Rogers
10 Kasem Thompson
11 Jaleel Scarborough
12 Jonathan Guishard
13 Aristo Richardson
14 Aaron Richardson
15 Steven Austin
16 Jaheel Herbert
17 Tre Gumbs
18 Keanu Richardson
19 Matthew Brown
20 Joseph Gumbs

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