The Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be the setting for a history making moment tonight, when the Golden Jaguars make their maiden appearance in the CONCACAF Gold Cup against host nation and defending champion USA from 22:00hrs.
Today’s match will be the first ever meeting of the teams in competitive play. Guyana enter the match on the back of two consecutive defeats following an extensive training camp.
Guyana went down to Bermuda 0-1 on June 6th before losing to Haiti 1-3 five days later. Analysis of Guyana’s six most recent matches highlights a record of two wins, three losses and a draw.
Offensively, Guyana has tallied 14 goals during this period while defensively they have allowed nine concessions.
According to a release from the GFF, head-coach Michael Johnson stated that the team is prepared for the task ahead.
“For the last few days we’ve had a chance to really batten down and deal with what we expect, as we know the team now and this has allowed us to be more precise in our work and more detailed from an analytic point of view both in and out of possession and how we’re going to approach this game.
“The team’s been picked appropriately for this game and, more likely or not, it could change for the next one; but we feel what we’ve got at our disposal that we are in a very, very good place with hours left before the big game.”
Johnson acknowledged that while the players could be nervous and anxious due to the match being the biggest and most important game of their respective careers, “We’ve been able to handle that as a staff, you know, I’ve talked to them about my experiences in big games and how you approach them but we all know once the whistle blows the nervousness goes, the anxiousness goes because now you are in it and that’s what we all can’t wait for now.”
He noted that build-up and preparation has been tremendous and that the challenge ahead is being embraced by the players and management staff.
“I think we, by our own professionalism, by our own expectations, are putting more pressure on us internally than probably anybody else. I’ve seen statements that don’t give us a chance, written us off; we won’t score a goal, easy game for America. But internally, I think there is an inner belief and a real resilience that’s the case and I think that’s where the pressure comes from us in our own environment, thinking we can do a lot better than the so-called armchair pundits, press, players from America and coaching staff have said.”
Captain Sam Cox said, “It’s going to be a brilliant occasion; it’s a different experience for all of us, a situation that we’ve never been in. We’ve had the Nation League games, World Cup Qualifiers in the past but never have we been to a major tournament so it’s been a complete different experience to what we’ve had before. I feel the boys and I are mentally prepared; we know that we are in a very tough group but we feel that if we apply ourselves properly we can surprise a few people, we can compete and hopefully we can gain the respect of a lot of people along the way. We are going to do our talking on the pitch.”
Guyana’s squad reads Goalkeepers Alex Murray, Akel Clarke, Quillan Roberts, Defenders Sam Cox, Jordan Dover, Terence Vancooten, Kadell Daniel, Ronayne Marsh-Brown, Matthew Briggs, Kevin Layne, Liam Gordon, Midfielders Neil Danns, Warren Creavalle, Elliot Bonds, Daniel Wilson, Stephen Duke-McKenna, Anthony Jeffrey and Forwards Emery Welshman, Keanu Marsh-Brown, Pernell Schultz, Terell Ondaan, Callum Harriott and Sheldon Holder.
Their opponent who are ranked 24th in FIFA and 2nd in CONCACAF, enter the clash win-less in their three most recent clashes with a record of two losses and a draw.
During the aforesaid period, their offensive line has only scored once while their rearguard has conceded a whopping five times.
The USA squad, which contains 17 Major League Soccer [MLS] based players, consists of Goalkeepers Zack Steffen, Sean Johnson, Tyler Miller, Defenders Nick Lima, Omar Gonzalez, Walker Zimmerman, Tim Ream, Reggie Cannon, Daniel Lovitz, Matt Miazga, Aaron Long, Midfielders Michael Bradley, Will Trapp, Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, Cristian Roldan, Duane Holmes and Forwards Paul Arriola, Gyasi Zardes, Jordan Morris, Jozy Altidore, Jonathan Lewis and Tyler Boyd.
The Golden Jaguars will tackle Panama in their second match-up on June 22nd in Cleveland, Ohio, before concluding their group campaign against traditional rival Trinidad and Tobago on June 26th in Kansas City, Missouri.
