Golden Jaguars look to end losing streak against Antigua

Guyana’s premier football side the Golden Jaguars, will face-off with Antigua and Barbuda in a crucial encounter today in League-B of the CONCACAF Nations League at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.

The contest, which is the 11th overall clash of the nations, is the second matchup of the teams in the space of three days.

Guyana enters the fixture with an unenviable record of five consecutive losses following their 2-1 defeat  to the ‘Benna Boys’ at the Sir Vivian Richard Stadium on Friday. Guyana’s prior win, the third overall, against Antigua and Barbuda occurred  November 2006.

In terms of the numbers, the 176th FIFA rated Guyana side has conceded 10 times during this five-game stretch, with their offensive line only scoring thrice against the 168th FIFA ranked visitors.    

 The loss was also the sixth for the home nation in their previous eight engagements, with their only win occurring against Aruba. During the aforementioned period, Guyana has conceded 19 goals and scored six.

 Coach Marcio Maximo during a pre-match press conference held at the Pegasus Hotel said, “I think we had a good performance but the result was not good. They were more clinical than us, the opponent had a few shots and used it. We had a lot of shots but only scored one goal. I hope that tomorrow we change the situation, win the game which is very important for us and get into the second position.”

 He added, “For me the second place is still open because the first place is for Jamaica. The second place is still open, we have the same chances as Antigua and Aruba because everyone has the conditions to qualify for second. We should put the focus on the game tomorrow and our fans should come to the game to give us support.”

 According to Maximo, “The team has developed with our performance, despite our result. It’s not what we expected, “ he added.

“The team played good football and most times dominated. It’s not an easy process, I was asked before if you develop or you compete, I think we do both. I don’t think you can compete with team without any local players, for me it’s not really development. Also you can’t give up the international players, it’s a balance. You should work in two departments, develop and compete. That’s why the last game we used six local players and tomorrow probably use the same number. All the bench is composed of local players. I think the local and international players should work together like they are doing now with good integration.”

Asked if tactical changes might be implemented in search of a positive outcome, he stated, “Tomorrow we will be more offensive, we were offensive in Antigua but you should play smart and with intelligence not a crazy game. We play an offensive and have balance, a crazy game will benefit the opponent.”

Meanwhile Captain Sam Cox said, “The result was disappointing and the programme is in a transitional period as we speak. Obviously with the more integration of locally based players, I guess we have to manage expectations of the public on what we trying to do and trying to achieve. If you look at the game against Antigua in their place, possession wise I think we dominated, in terms of chances I think we dominated and if it wasn’t for the sloppy first 15 minutes, then I am sure the result would have been a lot different. That has given us even more motivation to go into the game, we know it’s a hugely important game and we just need everybody to get behind us. We know the circumstances and we are going to give everything we can to ensure that by the end of these fixtures we are in second place.”

 Likewise, Neil Danns, another Golden jaguars star player  said, “At this moment in time everyone can see that the Guyanese football is going through a transitional period and we are all onboard and fully committed to this transitional period. We realise that in order for everything that we achieved with the Gold Cup, in order for that to filter down, it has to filter down to the local players and the balance has to be right.”

 According to Danns, “From the first get together with the coach you could have seen the quality of the local players’ development. We trained last week and right away the tempo was higher, the movement was quicker and that gave us an insight in to what is actually going on in Guyanese football at this moment. It takes time especially coming off the back of the Gold Cup, expectation is high but we also have to be in reality and understand that we are still a growing nation. If you look at myself I am an aging player and I still have something to give but the focus is now on the next generation and the youth players.

 “As for tomorrow’s game we were disappointed with the result on Friday but you have to take the positives. With a good balance of local and international players and anyone who watched the game could clearly see we were the better team. We dominated the game with the ball, we had a lot more clear chances, the only think was it took us 20 minutes to wake up and start implementing that. We have no doubt that we have to implement that from the start and I am sure you will see from the start that it will be implemented.”

The final round of matches will then occur during the month of November. Guyana will host Aruba on the 15th, before traveling to Jamaica three days later. 

Winner of the group will advance to the League-A section of the competition in the subsequent edition.

Complete Results

Team        GP    W     L      D    GF    GA    GD    Pts.

Jamaica      3      3      0      0     12      0      +12    9

Antigua      3      2      1      0      4       8        -4     6

Guyana      3      1      2      0      2       6        -4     3

Aruba         3     0      3       0      1      5        -4     0