Guyana’s Junior Jaguars football team had a debut to forget in the CONCACAF U17 Football Championship, going down to El Salvador 0-4 yesterday at the IMG Arena, Bradenton, Florida.
The statistics, which was provided by the official CONCACAF website, makes for some interesting reading. El Salvador recorded a whopping 23 shots in total, 13 of which were on target, with one hitting the woodwork.
On the other side, the Guyanese could only muster seven shots, with only two being on target.
In terms of possession, the Central Americans registered 52%. This translated into 259 attempted passes, with 245 finding their intended target for a mind-blowing conversion rate of 95%.
The Guyanese attempted an impressive 220 passes, with 186 reaching their intended destination at a rate of 85%.
The flood-gates would open in the second half as the El Salvadorians recorded three goals in the space of eight minutes to put the game truly beyond the Guyanese.
Kevin Roman Linares broke the deadlock by finding the back of the net in the 18th minute. The score would remain intact as Guyana defended doggedly.
However, the complexion of the contest quickly changed, as El Salvador recorded three unanswered goals. Emerson Saul made it 2-0, etching his name on the scorer’s sheet in the 59th minute.
Luis Vasquez Velasquez then made his presence felt, increasing the score once more compliments of a 64th minute conversion.
The score would then balloon to 4-0 in the 67th minute, as Saul tallied his second to complete a deserved brace.
Guyana will now match skills with group favourite Honduras tomorrow from 4:00pm at the same venue. They will conclude their group campaign on Sunday against Haiti at 10:00am.
Current Group-C Standings
Team GP W L D GF GA GD Pts.
El Salvador 1 1 0 0 4 0 +4 3
Haiti 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 3
Honduras 1 0 1 0 0 2 -2 0
Guyana 1 0 1 0 0 4 -4 0
