Wayne Dover, Golden Jaguars interim head coach said the objective is to create history by becoming the first Guyanese team to win in South East Asia when they battle host Indonesia Saturday in an international football friendly.
The former Alpha United tactician, following a training session yesterday said, “We want to make this game an historic game in the true sense of the word, in playing here for the first time and being the first Guyanese team to win here and make the entire nation proud.”
He added: “This is a new experience for us, from the administration right down to the players. We have never been this side of the world before and have never played anyone from this side of the world before. It is an experience we all will cherish and we want to come out on top of this experience, so we can make the GFF and the country as a whole proud of this moment.
“It’s a moment we will approach very respectfully, with a little bit of cautiousness because of the fact that we don’t know the opponent but as the game progress we can see what they are doing and make the necessary adjustments and try to give a good account of ourselves and get a positive result,” he added. Quizzed about the composition of the team, Dover said,
“The squad is a mixture of youth and experience and it is very nice to have so many young players in the squad because as the GFF is aiming for the 2018/19 season, they will embark and depend a lot on the young players to take us through that phase and that is a plus for us.”
Dover added, “The youth and experience we started to see from previous times when we had camps and games. We had a situation like this but it’s a bit overlapping with the young players in this squad, so I am very optimistic that these lads could fit in, and will fit in and will give a good account of themselves and actually give a good performance so that we can get a positive result on the 25th.”
He declared that the introduction of many of the younger players have brought a competitiveness to the squad, adding, “They must never be a time when players become comfortable that they are set and I’m happy to know that these young players brought that situation, where by players have to work for their spots.
Asked about the struggles experienced by the team since their arrival ins Jakarta, Dover revealed, “It’s a different climate and time zone and we have to adjust for the upcoming encounter on the 25th. Initially, it has been a little struggle in the early stages of our arrival. They [players] saw a little discomfort in the adjustment in time. It’s almost 12 hours in difference and the guys are battling to adjust to the situation.
“We saw a little of better adjustment in the latter part of the day, especially when we went to our training session and in their movements and that is a good sign,” he added
Questioned about the next steps for the national programme subsequent to the match, Dover said, “A promise was made by the GFF president to play on every FIFA date and we have almost had the full complement of playing on those dates. We have missed one for the year, this will be our fourth international game of the year.
“Having exposed the seasoned campaigners and the newcomers, it will give us a good look and we can use this as a measuring stick to see where we are at and what needs to done looking forward to the future to build a firm team to compete in the Caribbean Cup with the aim to qualify for the Gold Cup for the first time in the history of our country. This will give us good opportunity to see what is needed going forward,” he said.
