Three of the Debutantes_L-R – Aneesa O’ Brien (GK),Lakeisha Pearson (13) and Rylee Traicoff (22)
CFU Women’s Challenge Series
THIRTEEN DEBUTANTES IN “LADY JAGS” SQUAD
– Future is very bright for Guyana’s football Says Head Coach
28th April, 2018, Port-Of-Spain: “We’re exactly where we need to be. In fact, we might be ahead of the curve as I didn’t realize how young the players were, the future is very bright for Guyana’s football,” said Dr. Ivan Joseph, Head Coach of the National Senior Women’s Football Team.
This is even as Guyana has 13 debutantes in the squad participating in the CFU Women’s Challenge Series in Trinidad and Tobago – Aneesa O’ Brien, Natalie Nedd, Sasha James, Rylee Traicoff, Jessica Myers, Jade Vyfhuis, Nailah Rowe, Siacy Adams, Shontel Greene, Tiandi Smith, Jimmaica Hunte, Annalisa Vincent nd Lakeisha Perason.
Annalisa Vincent (in green) during the Guyana-Grenada Match
To date, we’ve seen some of the debutantes display their talent including Tiandi Smith, Siacy Adams and Lakeisha Pearson, who impressed Dr. Joseph. “Lakeisha Pearson did a really nice job, she’s shifty on the ball, she’s pretty silky, had two great opportunities, she hit a cross bar from up-close, created several goal-scoring opportunities, that’s somebody we’ll keep a really close eye on,” said Dr. Joseph after the first game against Grenada. “Annalisa also did a really nice job and got some starts. Young keeper, 15 years old, did an exceptional job. Tiandi came off the bench and did a pretty good job.”
According to Dr. Joseph, the team is evolving and the focus during this tournament is on building team cohesion as well as providing playing opportunities to enable the staff to evaluate the players: “Several players have displayed their ability to play at this level. We’ve been able to blend and gel as a unit and finally, and most importantly, we are able to see the level of competition, and develop a game plan that will enable us to ensure our success during our qualifiers in May. I’m pleased at where we are at this stage of our training camp.”
Technical Director of the GFF, Ian Greenwood, also echoed the sentiments of the Head Coach of the National Senior Women’s Team and said the international exposure achieved by the players will contribute to a stronger national programme: “The future is extremely bright for the GFF Women’s programme with the number of young debutantes that have gained valuable international experience and exposure in this CFU competition.”
“There now is a clear pathway for players based in Guyana through the GFF-Scotiabank Academy Training Centres (ATCs) to the senior team, as well as a robust Talent ID programme for internally-based Guyanese players to progress to the “Lady Jags”. We were pleased to see Annalisa Vincent from Region One making her debut, which also shows the commitment to unearth talent from all reaches of Guyana. A primary objective of the squad composition for the coaching staff was to assess the player pool ahead of the May qualifiers.”
Greenwood said that the current players’ pool understands that they have to earn the right to wear the badge: “Moving forward many of the players still qualify for the U17 and U20 squads so we have to bear in mind these players may take another five to six years before we see the best of them, but with consistent engagement and key developmental messages, they will progress. All the players in the pool understand that they must earn the right to wear the badge.
Guyana will play its final match in the CFU Women’s Challenge Series tomorrow against Trinidad and Tobago at the Ato Boldon Stadium at 18:00hrs.
For more information, please contact:
Debra Francis (Ms.)
Communications and Public Relations Officer