Football fans can expect an keen encounter when Guyana’s Golden Jaguars clash with Grenada this afternoon in their second friendly international in as many weeks at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground starting at 15:30 hours.
Fresh from a 1-0 win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines last Sunday at the Blairmont ground, the Guyanese will be looking to score another morale boosting win as they step up preparations for their World Cup campaign later this year.
There are a few injury scares for the local side with last week’s goal scorer Gregory “Jackie Chan” Richardson and experienced striker Collie Hercules both nursing injuries.
The duo none-the-less trained with the squad yesterday at the Carifesta Sports Complex ground.
Head coach of the Golden Jaguars Wayne Dover said the players are in high spirit ahead of today’s showdown.
“The level of training is very high at this stage with players playing hard to remain in the squad as well as to make the final eleven,” he added.
“The inclusion of Shawn “Bubbly” Beveney, who returned earlier this week to join the squad will help to strengthen the midfield,” Dover added.
While the final eighteen players were to be selected last evening there is unlikely to be many changes from last Sunday’s starting lineup that included “Lilly” Pollard (captain), Walter Moore, Cary Harris, Shawn Bishop, Kayode McKinnon, Sean Cameron, Hercules and Richardson as well as Kanata Manning, Nigel Codrington and Anthony “Awo” Abrams who came on a substitute.
Manager of the Grenada team Augustine Jones told Stabroek Sport that Guyanese football fans can expect a very competitive game, “We are expecting a very good competitive friendly match and our defeat against Guyana last year in the Digicel Cup is still fresh in my mind.”
He said fans will be pleased with the match but disappointed with the result.
He said the squad which arrived in Guyana yesterday is a mixture of senior and junior players , several from the National Under-23 squad.
The seniors include Ricky Charles, Franklyn Baptiste, Patrick Modeste, Eric George and Desmond Noel (goalkeeper), while the junior includeHenson Cuffy, Kwan Baptiste, Shane Rene, Mark Marshall with the newcomers being Stephen Peters and Michael Francis.
The 23 member touring party also include head coach Norris Wilson, coach Kenton Roberts, trainer Jerry Alexis and goalkeeping coach Kellon Baptiste.
