By Duncan Saul in Bradenton, Florida
Golden Jaguars U-20 Head-Coach Wayne Dover says that the historic victory against El Salvador in the CONCACAF Men’s Championship on Saturday highlighted the potential of the national programme if a proper structure and preparation are in place.
In an exclusive post-match interview with Stabroek Sports, the former Alpha United tactician declared, “This win should be a motivation for the GFF in going forward because the nation and the many fans in the diaspora saw a remarkable performance and clearly saw what this group of players can do if given the opportunity, the preparation, a longer period of time and more international friendlies because the lack of games has played its part.”
He further stated, “We saw after the first game we improved in the second game and the third game and came out on top on the fourth game. Definitely the GFF has to take a look at the preparation of these teams and the number of games given for them to compete and get results that are favourable to move us beyond just participation so we can qualify.”
Guyana secured their first ever win against Central American opposition at any level compliments of a 2-0 scoreline at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA on Saturday.
The victory was one of the surprises in the event as it occurred against the group winner and undefeated nation, despite earlier dismal results for Guyana against Guatemala [4-0], Cayman Islands [3-2] and Curacao [4-3], which threatened to leave them pointless.
According to Dover, “Ever so often we have been asked the question how we motivate the lads after the three heavy defeats that we had. Even two of the defeats despite conceding so many goals and scoring five goals, it still seems like heavy defeats. There were shoulders down, chins down, everyone being very harsh with the players and criticisms of the coaches.”
He revealed, “We tried to motivate them to let them know that we can’t go back to Guyana being the whipping boys, we have to show our class, we have to show what we can do and we have to get a victory. We spoke to them and show them this is a life changing situation and moment for them and they need go out and play and get the result and they did that.”
Quizzed about what were the major differences between this match and previous fixtures, Dover posited, “I think part of it has to do with the conditions we played in earlier. We played in two 10 am games and one 12:45 pm game and that took its toll. I think our boys were a bit uncomfortable in that situation and I always know that maybe this condition would suit us more.”
He added, “We saw we narrowly was on the receiving end against Cayman Islands and Curacao and from that we tried to build because after the first game [Guatemala] which we had to come in and play very defensively given the late arrival and tired legs and the strength of the Guatemala team, we sat and tried to play off the counter to score.”
“It didn’t work out and we had to change the approach and step higher up the field and we saw in the two games that we played like that we almost snatched victory and was unlucky at the end of the games to receive a result that was not favourable so we came into this game knowing that we can do it. We worked tirelessly for the one hour yesterday to close space, close the midfield gap and be resolute at the back in defence and I saw tonight the guys came in and did what we worked on and we got the result,” Dover said.
