Golden Jaguars head coach Denzil Thompson is pleased with his team’s showing against Dominica in their opening CFU Qualification Cup fixture and is confident that they can overcome St Lucia in today’s match.
Team Guyana which is currently ranked 153rd by FIFA, held 168th ranked Dominica to a nil-all draw in their opening match-up. They will now face-off against the St Lucians at the Warner Park Sporting Complex in St Kitts and Nevis.
St Lucia is currently ranked higher than the Golden Jaguars at 138th and are far more experienced, with a combined total of 194 caps. They will then conclude their tourney against the host nation on Sunday September 7 in their final group fixture.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport from St. Kitts and Nevis, Thompson said “It was a good performance, I am happy for them even though they could have and should have won the game but because it was new to them, that’s the result. We had the chances more than the other team.”
“I am confident that the guys will play much better and go out and be successful. We know the situation, it’s always good to draw your first game instead of losing. The team is in high spirits,” he added.
According to Thompson, “It’s the first time the team played in an international game; they never even played in an international practice game, only three local games in the 10 days we trained. The performance was good that even some of the other teams were surprised to know we only got together to train on the 16th of last month and only had 10 days in doing so.”
Quizzed on the areas that the team will need to improve on for the St Lucia match-up, he noted “There is need for us to improve on the defence. This is not the defence in defending but the defence in offence. This means when the defence has the ball to be able to come out in offensive play. They are a split second too slow…”
Further, he said, “In the professional world of football, history has proved that no professional team has ever mastered a system of play. What they do is master a formation of play. A system of play consists of various movements with and without the ball. Because the teams are always changing players and coaches, all they do is adapt and play.”
Asked what will be his side’s approach against St. Lucia, Thompson said he expects an energetic game. “Now that the players have played their first game, they are motivated and ready to play against the St. Lucians. We saw both of the teams (St. Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis) play last night and the game was a draw…Having seen both of them, we saw things we can do to be more precise and dynamic in our play both offensively and defensively.”
