National Football Coach Jamaal Shabazz says that he has taken full responsibility for the Golden Jaguars 0-4 defeat at the hands of Central American football giants Costa Rica.
The game was their second, third round fixture of the 2014 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers at Providence Stadium on Tuesday evening.
According to a release from the Guyana Football Federation, in a very frank interview Shabazz elaborated on the match. “I take full responsibility for the team’s performance. It’s a lesson for me and all of us that we cannot play open and we have to defend deep against every team in this group and when the opportunity presents itself then we can attack,” Shabazz noted.
He continued: “We were and I was naïve to start to try and defend higher up the field and Costa Rica just cut through us like a hot knife through butter and it is an important lesson in my career, that the different levels in the game calls for more respect to be given to the opponent regardless if we are home or away – a strong opponent is a strong opponent.”
Labour pains
The Trinidad native continued his review by referring to the current state of development in the national football team as that of a mother in labour before she brings forth her baby.
“We did get behind them a lot, but we were too careless instead in not being compact and tight and defending deep for our dear lives. The time will come when Guyana will be able to compete against these teams in a more open way, it will take time and playing more matches at this level. The staff, the players, the federation and the nation have to go through these labour pains. It is necessary labour pains for Guyana to reach that new level, before that baby of football progress could be born, we must as a country go through these pains,” he stated passionately.
Shabazz continued: “We must face disappointments like these when we are beaten on our doorsteps against a superior opponent. It’s not a pleasant situation, but it’s one where we have to learn from these hard lessons. I am strong enough to take full responsibility and the blows that don’t break we back here, will strengthen it.”
Looking ahead
However, Shabazz in looking ahead at Guyana’s remaining four games in the group considered where Guyana currently stands in CONCACAF compared to their position in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), and pointed to the progress of Venezuela in South American football as a yardstick for where the Jaguars could be one day.
“We will learn from this experience, we have four more matches in the group. But more importantly we have to look for opponents superior to us, to expose the players, so that they can constantly become aware of playing at this level from teams currently involved in CONCACAF and South American (CONMEBOL) World Cup qualifying.”
“It’s best we face these opponents now, take our battering and learn from it. The people must face up to reality and we will grow. There was a time when Venezuela was the whipping boys of South America, now Venezuela is among the top five countries in that region and they recently beat Argentina (a 1-0 defeat on October, 2011),” Shabazz observed.
He said that while Guyana can be considered one of the top five teams in CFU, in CONCACAF the national team still has a long way to go, but it is on that journey and that’s the important thing.
Crowd reaction
Finally Shabazz thanked the crowd for showing up at Providence and encouraged them to continue maintaining the high level of support whether the team is celebrating highs like the victory versus Trinidad and Tobago last November or lows versus Costa Rica.
“I want to thank the public for coming out and giving that total support. I thank the politicians also since a lot were all there. The 12th man did show up, they did us very proud and on behalf of players, staff and Guyana Football Federation (GFF) I want to thank them.”
