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Dover Athletic winger Anthony Jeffrey says reaching Concacaf Gold Cup with Guyana is the best moment of his career

08:35, 29 March 2019

updated: 07:44, 30 March 2019

Dover winger Anthony Jeffrey says he and team-mate Kadell Daniel were made to feel like film stars after helping Guyana qualify for the Concacaf Gold Cup for the first time.

The Whites duo were part of the Guyana side who qualified for this summer's tournament after a 2-1 home win over Belize before a crowd of 4,000 on Saturday.

Jeffrey said it was undoubtedly the best moment of his career so far and revealed how the team's success had brought the country to a standstill.

Dover winger Anthony Jeffrey in action against Harrogate this season Picture: Alan Langley
Dover winger Anthony Jeffrey in action against Harrogate this season Picture: Alan Langley

He also explained how the team's manager Michael Johnson had threatened to fine anyone who arrived home from the post-match celebrations too early!

The 24-year-old former Arsenal youngster, who arrived back in England on Tuesday, said: "It was amazing, probably the best experience of my footballing career so far. Making my debut, just being out there, getting a win for your country, no bigger honour really.

"You look at all the history, all of our stories to get there, it's been a long, hard road, some of us have been wanting to play for a while now but there's always been something stopping us getting together.

"Once we got there we worked hard and focused and got the job done.

"We've been labelled now as the greatest team ever in Guyana, we're the most successful team ever so it's massive. Both my parents are from there, it's something that brings huge pride to myself and all of us.

"There were tears from all of us after the game, I've never cried for joy in my life so you can understand it was a special emotion."

Of the celebrations that followed the win he said: "There was a fine if you came back before 6am from the manager, he said no one come back before 6am so we were out, it was a good night, the whole country stopped, it was just amazing we felt like movie stars out there."

The 16-nation Gold Cup will be co-hosted by USA and Costa Rica in June and among those joining Guyana, nicknamed the Golden Jaguars, are Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Jeffrey admits the tournament could change the lives of the players, many of whom, like him, are in non-league football.

He added: "Guyana was a country run by cricket but now we've gone and made a massive statement to get to the Gold Cup.

"We've got a good team, a really good team, You never know what can happen, lives can change, players can end up at different clubs, the MLS, you can end up wherever really, we're all just now preparing ourselves."

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