– It’s going to be tough says Shabbazz
By Rawle Toney
The Golden Jaguars have not gotten the start they were looking for in this year’s Digicel Caribbean Championship (DCC) after a 1-1 draw with St Kitts and Nevis on the opening night of their Group H match in Trinidad and Tobago Wednesday at the Marvin Lee Stadium.
The Jaguars, who were expected to come out victorious, had to settle for a come-from-behind draw in a match which they dominated according to reports from the twin-island republic.
St Kitts opened the scoring in the 29th minute but Guyana’s Gregory “Jackie Chan” Richardson, who has been enjoying a superb run this season with his Trinidad and Tobago side Joe Public, rattled home the equalizer three minutes later thanks to a terrific pass from Collie Hercules.
Speaking to Stabroek Sports yesterday, Technical Director of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Jamaal Shabazz said that St Kitts played a more defensive game than expected and it was very difficult for his men.
“We played a very decent football game, but we didn’t expect them (St Kitts) to play so defensive, they obviously caught us off guard but I still think we could have done a bit better but we are looking ahead to tonight’s match-up,” said Shabazz.
Shabazz said in his three year tenure as TD with the GFF, the Guyana team has never been so hungry to play football but was cognizant of the fact that, unlike the previous tournament where Guyana played unbeaten and only lost in the finals, the other teams like St Kitts and Antigua have now caught up with them and are forcing him to work a bit harder.
“It’s not that we (Guyana) have dropped back, it’s that teams such as Antigua and St. Kitts are not playing kick and rush type football anymore. They now have plenty players playing out side of their islands and with them added to their team, they bring more stability and discipline to their football,” Shabazz stated.
Looking ahead at tonight’s game against a team whom they recently lost 3-0 to in a friendly international, Shabazz said that his approach would be cautious and that the game will be tough given how he saw the team played against a strong Trinidad line up despite them losing 3-2.
John ‘JP’ Rodriguez has returned to the team.
Rodrigues was out since the last Digicel tournament in 2006/2007 due to an injury but according to Shabazz his return was well received since his presence at the back with captain Charles Pollard and Howard Lowe was reminiscent of the last tournament where they formed what was called the `Triple Towers’.
“JP did very well after being out for so long from the national team and his performance was very good. This is a player that will be the future captain of Guyana’s national football team,” mentioned the technical director.
He also highlighted the outstanding performance by veteran striker Collie “Hitman” Hercules who had announced his retirement from the sport after the Digicel tournament.
Hercules was instrumental in setting up Richardson to score the equalizer.
But Shabazz said that he’s a bit disappointed with the performance of Richardson, who has been the most feared striker in the Trinidad and Tobago Professional League and the T.D feels that he can play with a bit more effort.
“We (the coaching staff) had a talk with him (Richardson) about his performance, I mean he scored for us when it mattered most but we want him to apply the same effort with us as like Joe Public and he made some complaints some of which is him having more touches on the ball and we will work on that for tonight’s game,” the T.D highlighted.
After the first day, Guyana occupy the second position in the group on one point behind host Trinidad and Tobago who lead the group with thee points.
The top two teams from this group will journey to Jamaica for the DCC finals from December 3-12.
