Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:47 AM
Nov 06, 2018 Sports
By Franklin Wilson in Florida, USA
Compliments of Industrial Safety Supplies,
Secure Innovation & Concepts and Fitness Express
Guyana Under-20 Jaguars will go into today’s match against the Cayman Islands with a confident outlook having lost their opening match 0-4 to Guatemala on Friday last at the same #2 Field at the IMG Academy here in Bradenton, Florida when day six of the Concacaf Under-20 Championship, USA 2018 continues.
Like Guyana, the Cayman Islands also lost their opening encounter via a 1-3 margin to El Salvador which along with Guatemala have both posted a pair of wins each with Guatemala leading the group on goal difference. Curacao, the other country in the group have lost both their matches to date.
Having played since last Friday, the young Guyanese, still a positive unit despite the loss have had three training sessions since and have been quietly mapping their strategy for today’s encounter which they have collectively stated, “We will be taking full points from this match.”
Head Coach Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover and his Technical Staff have been hard at work in trying to lift the morale of the players and have been doing a fine job so far. The players too, have been working hard at training and are looking forward to today’s test.
Stressing that the players are confident ahead of today’s match, Dover informed that the approach would be to take the fight to the opponents.
“The plan will be to go and play a bit more attacking; I want to give my players the thumbs up for the level of commitment shown and for giving a remarkable effort in the first match. So for this game, our approach will be to try and be a bit more attacking and positive in order to get a good result.”
Dover wanted to state that his team is not fazed by what many might have had to say with regards to their approach to the first game which was to sit deep and play from position three (defence) whilst trying to play off the counter.
“We know that Guatemala is one of the top teams in the tournament ranked at #8, while we are at #24 so when we look back at what the team did in that game, we know that with dedicated and consistent preparation along with quality practice matches, Guyana would be able to do a lot better.”
During the training sessions since the last match, Dover informed that work would have been done on the team’s offensive pattern, how to penetrate the opponent and create scoring opportunities.
The experienced tactician expressed gratitude to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and President Wayne Forde for the investment they have made thus far by ensuring that the youngsters have the opportunity to be a part of this historic championship.
“It’s is not easy for any federation to be funding multiple teams at the same time in international tournaments and it is not easy also for a group of players never been given the opportunity to play at the age group level to play at a tournament of this magnitude much less to win a group coming up against youngsters like themselves, many of whom are professionals already. So kudos are in order for the GFF and its vision, commitment and investment in this future generation of players.”
The Head Coach suggested that in the future more time and investment should be afforded teams for tournaments to ensure that they are well prepared to challenge their much more exposed counterparts.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
Apr 18, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has been named Wisden’s leading Twenty20 Cricketer for 2023, as she topped all and sundry, including her male counterparts. Alan Gardner looks...Kaieteur News – Compliments of the Ministry of Education, our secondary school children are being treated to a stage... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]