The Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s premier football team, will oppose Aruba today from 21:00hrs in a pivotal clash at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora in League B of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Ranked 174th, Guyana enters what is the fourth ever meeting of the nations on the back of a 5-1 drubbing of Antigua and Barbuda. The aforementioned was only the second win for the Guyanese in their last nine outings.
During this period, the Guyanese have recorded 11 conversions while conceding 20 goals.
History, though, will be on the side of the hosts who sport a perfect 3-0 record against the 195th ranked Arubans, following 4-0, 3-0 and 1-0 victories in 1991, 1992 and 2019 respectively.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference held at the Pegasus Hotel yesterday, Head Coach Marcio Maximo said, “Basically our strategy for the game against Aruba should be offensive since the first minute. Aruba is a danger team. They have good style, good passes, they have players that you need to pay attention to but I think if you maintain the intensity of the game, you can win.”
He further added, “Against Jamaica, playing on their pitch, they are favorites. Of course, we will change the strategy, not because Aruba is less strong, but Jamaica supposed to attack so much and we hope there’s space for us there. We are confident in both games.”
Meanwhile, returning defender Terrence Vancooten said, “I feel confident in this team. Like the things we’ve been producing in training, the quality is really high, some of the best I’ve seen since I’ve been here to be fair. It’s a shame that I couldn’t make the last few games due to injury but moving forward the confidence going through the camp is high and I’m ready to attack tomorrow.”
Similarly, local star Trayon Bobb said, “We want to go out there and put on our best performance so we can give the fans something to cheer about. We’re pleading with the fans to support us so we can do better, because the training that the coach had with us, we just want to go and execute everything and come out victorious.”
Guyana’s team for the match reads Goalkeepers Quillan Roberts [overseas], Akel Clarke, Sese Norville, Defenders Sam Cox [overseas], Sherwin Skeete, Kevin Layne, Raphael Edwards, Matthew Briggs [overseas], Kadell Daniels [overseas], Vancooten [overseas], Midfielders Anthony Belfield, Clive Nobrega, Daniel Wilson, Delwin Fraser, Vurlon Mills, Forwards Callum Harriott [overseas], Keanu Marsh-Brown [overseas], Nicholas MacArthur, Bobb, Sheldon Holder and Emery Welshman [overseas].
On the management side, Maximo is Head Coach while Charles Pollard and Eon DeVeira will serve as the Assistant Coach and Goalkeeping Coach respectively.
Similarly, Denzil Hernandes and Quacy Paddy will act in the capacity of Lead Physiotherapist and Physiotherapist respectively, while Wilson Toledo and Faizal Khan are the Head of Sports Science and Head of Recruitment respectively.
Rawle Adams will once again return as the Team Operations Manager, with Naseya Brewster serving as his Assistant. Trevor Burnett will serve as Equipment Manager.
Guyana will end their group campaign against undefeated host nation Jamaica on November 18th. The winner of the group will advance to the League A section of the competition in the subsequent edition.
