![Rogyear Anita [right] of Curacao attempting a challenge on Lionel Holder [no.6] of Guyana at the IMG Academy, Florida, USA in the CONCACAF Men’s U20 Championship](https://s1.stabroeknews.com/images/2018/11/curacao2.jpg)
-game went down to the wire
Guyana’s winless run in the CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship continued yesterday, going down to Curacao by a 4-3 scoreline at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA.
Guyana’s best performance thus far in the tournament coincided with Curacao’s worst showing to date.
Guyana whose starting XI consisted of [GK] Jamain Cumberbatch, Lionel Holder, Jeremy Garrett [Cap], Cecil Jackman, Javier Smith, Kwai M. Brown, Raushan Ritch, Nicholas Mc Arthur, Kelsey Benjamin, Chris Macey and Thair Britton, recorded nine shots, three of which were on target and produced goals.
Curacao fashioned 12 attempts, three of which were on target. In terms of the possession statistics, Guyana recorded 46 percent, with 165 passes completed out of 211 for an accuracy rate of 78 percent.
On the other hand, Curacao registered 54 percent, with 249 accurate passes from 270 attempted at a conversion rate of 92 percent.
In terms of interceptions, Guyana tallied 19 to Curacao’s 10, with the latter recording 23 fouls compared to Guyana’s 19 infractions. Meanwhile in the Corners section, Guyana outscored Curacao 5-3.
Similar to their previous outing, Guyana took the initial lead under the bright sunshine, as Kelsey Benjamin netted in the seventh minute, cutting in from the right side, and striking his effort into the back of the net.
Guyana’s lead proved to be short-lived as Carolith Fermina equalised three minutes onward, slotting home into the back of the net, after latching onto a left side cross.
Meghon Valpoort doubled their lead in the 27th minute with a simple tap-in from inside the left of the six-yard box, after a flicked-on pass from a right side freekick, fell into his unchallenged path.
Curacao extended their lead three minutes later under fortuitous circumstances as a cross from the right side was inadvertently directed into the left side of the goal by defender Jackman.
The dominance of the Islanders began to surface, as they strung together 29 passes against the clearly shell-shocked Guyanese.
However, Britton pulled one back in the dying moments of the first half to breathe life into Guyana.
Benjamin was the orchestrator of the goal, flicking the ball over the onrushing defender, before sliding the ball across the six-yard area for the onrushing Britton to bundle home.
The second half started poorly for the Guyanese, as Jaron Vicario made it 4-2 in the 56th minute, volleying a right side cross unchallenged into the left corner, following a counterattack.
The sea-saw nature of the contest witnessed Guyana reducing the deficit once more, with Britton sealing his double in the 58th minute, after a wild clearance by the goalkeeper struck his body and settled into the left corner.
The aforesaid goal set up a tense finish, as Guyana began to throw bodies forward in search of the equaliser.
However, Curacao held out in the dying moments with dogged defending to ensure Guyana remains pointless and in the cellar position.
Guyana will now end their campaign on November 10th against El Salvador from 19:45hrs.
