![Flash-back-Scenes from the Bermuda and Guyana [yellow] international friendly at the National Sports Centre, Bermuda](https://s1.stabroeknews.com/images/2019/06/jaguars8.jpg)
Despite suffering a 1-0 defeat to hosts Bermuda on Thursday at the National Sports Centre, Golden Jaguars Head-coach Michael Johnson declared that the objective of the fixture was to garner a better understanding of the team ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The Golden Jaguars went down to the Bermudians whose 37th minute effort from Donte Brangman was the only goal of the match.
Guyana will faceoff with Haiti on June 9th in Costa Rica in the team’s final match before heading into the CONCACAF Gold Cup on June 18th against host nation USA.
he aforesaid matches are part of the team’s preparation for their maiden appearance in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. According to a release from the Guyana Football Federation [GFF], Johnson said, “I thought the second half there was only one team, first half we didn’t really come out firing but I expected that, there’s nerves, people want to prove their position they’ve got on the team, but we settled down in the second half and we played some good football.”
He added, “As I’ve always said it’s not about the results for me. I’ve seen a lot of things that I want from the second half now being played in our next friendly; so I can see progression from the first half where they were edgy and nervy towards a more confident, more composed team, second half. So we’re heading in the right direction. There were some good individual performances which excites me when I can see the jigsaws in my mind coming together.”
Johnson disclosed that the halftime discussion in the dressing room focused on telling his charges to be confident in their respective application and effort.
He added, “We’ve got to keep hold of the ball and we’ve got to have more pressure on their back line, which I thought we did in the second half and we asked questions. There were a couple of opportunities that could have left or right and it’s a goal; this is a good team and they need to now believe in themselves as a team which I thought was more evident in the second half.”
Johnson did not state what his side will be for the clash with Haiti, saying, “As I said to you always, the friendlies for me is about finding out things, tonight (Thursday) I found out so much that would one, enable me to coach and position our coaching methodology a different way, individually and also as a team but now I am starting to see personnel that actually coming to the forefront of it so I’m excited for it.”
