Organising Secretary of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major has said that Guyana’s Golden Jaguars were ‘unhappy’ with their 0-1 premature loss to Barbados in a warm-up match on Tuesday.
Major told Stabroek Sport from Trinidad yesterday that the Jaguars were ‘unhappy’ about the manner in which the game had ended and the reports that had reached ‘home’ soil about the team’s performance.
“It wasn’t an official game,” Major said. “The Barbados side wanted a warm-up match and Technical Director (Jamaal) Shabazz decided to allow the game between the two sides,” he contended.
According to Major, the Barbados team scored off a penalty early in the first half but abandoned the game about five to ten minutes in the second half after the Jaguars went on the prowl on the “outskirts of Trinidad.”
“One of the Barbados players got injured at the start of the second half and the Barbados coach wanted to use the time to talk to his players after Guyana was all over them but the referee did not allow him to talk to his team,” Major said. The decision by the referee not to allow the Barbados coach to talk to his team during the game reportedly offended the Barbados players and they decided to walk off the field at the height of play.
“The coach didn’t understand that those things don’t happen in football,” Major said, adding that the team wanted to make it clear that Barbados did not beat them in the full course of the game.
“Barbados probably knew that if they had continued Guyana would have scored about four goals against them based on the fact that Guyana was all over them after the penalty,” Major contended.
The final round of the Digicel Caribbean Cup officially gets underway from tomorrow in Trinidad with Guyana boasting excellent chances of qualifying for the Gold Cup in the USA by making the final four in the Digicel tournament.
Guyana coach Jamaal Shabazz also thinks his side is capable of winning the US$120,000 first prize.
