Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 03, 2020 Sports
We’ll have our work cut out against Haiti – Coach Joseph; Jade Vyfhuis believes “we can do it”
As they continue to set the standards for the female game at this level, Guyana’s ‘Lady Jags’ will face their sternest test to date when they come up against Haiti tomorrow from 16:00hrs at the Panamericano Stadium.
The Guyanese, on debut at this championship and ranked #23 in the 41-member Concacaf has been taking down more accomplished opponents, the biggest to date being the Cayman Islands (ranked #16) which they trounced 2-0 in their round-of-16 match on Sunday night last on account of goals either side of play from Shanice Alfred and Aubrey Narine.
Guyana’s pathway to this knockout stage of the competition saw them defeating Nicaragua and Puerto Rico and losing to Mexico to end second in Group D behind the Mexicans. This secured their passage to the round-of-16 and the Cayman Islands clash which they overcame and now face their next hurdle, in Haiti, tomorrow.
Coach Ivan Joseph who has been charting the course for the young ‘Lady Jags’ believes that Haiti would be tough opponents, noting that they are very physical, athletic and have very proficient scorers including the leading goal scorer of the competition so far.
“So they’ve got multiple scoring threats which would be hard to contain. When you couple that with a very sound defensive line, we’ll have our work cut out for us. They play a very direct style of attack from the flanks; they like to go through their posting forward.”
Coach Joseph revealed that they have been doing their homework by watching tapes and would be developing their game plan for the match.
“But again, do we have the athletes to really compete, that would be the tale of this game. You’ll look for us to play a very conservative low pressure defense, clearly not the same level that we played against Mexico because you have to be able to score and while it was nice to defend for 78 minutes against Mexico, you’ve got to find a balance between defending and being legitimately dangerous so the other team cant compel or commit as many players forward. So look for us to try and find wherever that balance is in the game.”
‘Lady Jag’ Jade Vuyfhuis also commented on the Haiti match: “Going forward for the Haiti game I think we’re going to be looking to defend really well because they are a stronger team; I think having competition at their level is going to be good for us because we can see what we are capable of doing and we’re going to be able to push our boundaries a little bit. That being said, it’s going to be a lot more physical so we’re going to try and match up to their physicality as well, but I think we can do it.”
Meanwhile, looking back at the Cayman Islands win, Coach Joseph informed that they were pleased as a staff with the performance of the team even though the conditions weren’t ideal given the fact that rain was falling and they were without two of their main starters due to injury which resulted in a number of players playing out of position.
Despite, the Guyanese were able to manage their third win of four matches to date in the competition.
“It took us a little while to get settled, we had lots of opportunities. Of course, being the professionals we are we’d like to wish we were a little bit more clinical in the final third, we couldn’t quite deliver that final ball or put that shot on target but good teams find a way to win and we did. The future is bright, I’m really pleased with that performance because we had some players come off the bench that are still quite young and developing that did a nice job and Tiandi had her best game of the tournament.
Another challenge at the tournament Coach Joseph shared is that they are many games in a certain amount of days which is testing on the kind of tactical decisions they would like to make as a Technical staff.
“But you’ll notice that we played a little bit different style, a little bit different formation and the ladies adjusted accordingly and we were able to play a different type of game against the Cayman Islands that saw us take advantage of some of their weaknesses.”
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
Apr 19, 2024
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