– says Dover
An upbeat Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s national football team, will look to score a victory against Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors when they square off this evening in the President’s Cup friendly international match at the National Stadium at Providence.
Guyana’s record against the Trinidadians is not so impressive. However, two performances stand out, their most recent encounter in 2009 which ended 1-1 in the Digicel Cup, and over a decade ago when Guyana held their nemesis 0-0 playing at home at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground in Linden.
Head Coach Wayne “Wiggy” Dover believes that his men could go one step further and win today’s clash.
With six overseas-based players in the line up, Dover told Stabroek Sport yesterday that the players are upbeat and very confident of securing a win.
“We know our purpose and we are united and ready for the match, we are hoping to get the best possible 11 from the current squad of 21 players currently in training,” he added.
According to Dover the coaching staff will be hoping to utilize as many as the players possible in this friendly international match as the ultimate goal of the team in finding the right blend for their upcoming Digicel Caribbean Cup tournament.
The overseas-based players in the squad are Trinidad-based Walter Moore, US based John Rodrigues, and from the United Kingdom and Shawn Beveney, Fabian Brown and Jason Lloyd, son of former Guyana and West Indies captain Clive Lloyd.
Dover said if the coaching staff gets the opportunity to have all of the players in uniform, they would be extremely happy.
Both teams are preparing for the Digicel Cup but the clash has received much hype as football fans look forward to the return of the footballers from the Twin island Republic to Guyana and a much-anticipated good showing from the local side.
The Soca Warriors, who competed in the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, has had some lean spells since that showing on the world stage and have started a rebuilding process.
Recently they have suffered defeats to Panama (3-0), Jamaica (2-1) and were held to a 0-0 draw by the lowly rated Belize earlier this month but bounced back to beat St. Lucia 3-0 last week.
The Golden Jaguars will meet Suriname, Netherlands Antilles and St. Lucia in their preliminary Digicel Cup Zone from 13-17 of October.
Meanwhile, The Under-20 players of both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago will also be in action in the supporting match starting at 18:00 hours.
Both teams are preparing for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World Cup preliminary competition.
