– with 3-1 whipping of Cuba
By Marlon Munroe
Brittany Persaud and Ashley and Justina Rodrigues scored once while goalkeeper Tenyka Francique pulled of a spectacular save to propel the Lady Jags football team to a 3-1 win over Cuba on Saturday at the National Stadium at Providence.
The win meant that the national women’s football team had joined Canada, Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti in the next round of the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup tournament scheduled for Cancun, Mexico later this year.
It also moved the ladies closer to qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament which will be held in Germany next year.
According to Competitions Coordinator within the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Lawrence ‘Sparrow’ Griffith, the team will have to finish in the top four in the Gold Cup finals to qualify for Germany.
Going into Saturday’s match the Guyanese needed to win by two clear goals and Lady Jags captain Ashley Rodrigues said after the win…“we really needed to push and everyone just came out firing.
“When we had that first goal scored against us we did not let that get to us down. We needed to keep our heads up until that final whistle was blown and give a 110 percent at all times”, she said afterwards in an invited comment.
The Lady Jags had their backs against the wall for the first 35 minutes as the Cubans breached their defence constantly.
Oftentimes the Guyanese looked jaded and in the 35th minute Cuba’s Yezena Gallardo Martinez converted a cross from outside the 30-yard box to put her team ahead. But, after a goal-kick by Cuba’s goalkeeper, and on a counter attack, forward Brittany Persaud was brought down in the 18-yard box and Rodrigues converted the spot kick in the 37th minute to equalise.
A minute before the first-half ended, left winger, Alison Heydorn’s cross found Persaud who made no mistake in converting and putting the Guyanese 2-1 ahead at the half.
“There are a lot of leaders out there and together we all helped to push each other. It is not just an individual, everyone steps up when they have to and that is what made us successful today [Saturday],” Rodrigues said.
In the second half it was the Cubans turn to look jaded while the Guyanese played with the fluidity of a well oiled machine.
Their football encompassed flair and artistry and everyone on the team stepped up their game and the Lady Jaguars were even more menacing on their set pieces.
The team’s third goal came from a corner kick which found Justina Rodrigues’s boot in the 48th minute.
The goal silenced the sprinkling of Cuban supporters in the stands and brought to life the larger contingent of Guyanese supporters who cheered and shouted strategies to the players.
This helped to skyrocket the confidence level of the Lady Jags players said the captain.
For a large part of the second half the ball was in the Cuban half with the Guyanese making their visitors, who beat them 1-0 last weekend in Havana, Cuba, work doubly hard to prevent a rout.
That was the ominous nature of the Guyanese attack and the crowd enjoyed every minute. Cheers of appreciation resounded around the stadium when the Cuban goalie made a full length dive to save a scorcher and then had to come up big to save a bicycle-style shot on goal.
But no save was more important that the one the national custodian Tenyka Cecelia Francique executed from a spot kick in the dying minutes of the second half. The Cubans hopes were sunk with that save as the Guyanese went into frenzy.
Francique said after the game, “I have never been so nervous in my life. And the look on her face (the kicker) was so confident that it was going in and I did my best to ensure that it didn’t go in. It feels surreal.
“I felt wanted before but never like this, ever. This was my biggest moment for the Lady Jaguars”, she said with a wide smile.
Technical Director of Women’s Football in the GFF and coach Mark Rodrigues speaking to Stabroek Sport said that the performance by the team was “outstanding” and he was relieved that it was through and the girls were successful.
“I am elated” he stated. He said that when Guyana conceded the first goal he felt that “we were playing well but I also knew we could have stepped up and played even better.
“It was good, it gave us that wake-up call that the girls required. It jerked the girls into reality and they picked their game up, it motivated them”, Rodrigues added.
He indicated that the victory was even sweeter since the girls experienced a lot of challenges throughout their campaign and they managed to overcome all of them. He said that the management team was currently planning a friendly match in Toronto, Canada during Caribana celebrations and then later to arrange a few other international friendly matches.
On the goalkeeper’s save, Rodrigues declared that “it was big.
“I always maintain in sport no matter how good your team is you need an element of luck and we had that element also tonight [Saturday].”
