Following his team’s heartbreaking exit from the CONCACAF men’s U20 Qualifying competition, Golden Jaguars head-coach Wayne Dover said yesterday that the campaign was very competitive adding that his charges were unlucky to be eliminated from the competition.
Needing a victory in their final match due to an inferior goal difference, Guyana was eliminated from the confederation qualifiers, after losing 0-1 to hosts Nicaragua in what was a top of the table showdown of the unbeaten teams on Sunday at the Nicaragua National Stadium.
Dover during post match comments said, “To me it was a good campaign. It went down to the last game in the group to determine the winner and it was very competitive. The final game between Guyana and Nicaragua ended with a solitary goal scored by Nicaragua to win the deciding game and group to qualify for the championship in June. A game that started at a very high tempo with both teams battling for supremacy. It was Guyana who would create the first opening when Osafa Simpson was fed a rich pass into the penalty box who turned and was about to shoot to goal when he was kicked from the side straight to the angle and went down to the ground with the referee totally ignoring the incident and waved play on.”
According to Dover, “Guyana won the early tactical battle with the game plan employed to be compact and squeeze them in midfield to prevent them time and space on the ball to play long diagonal pass out to the wings which they mastered throughout the earlier group stages to score eight of their 14 goals before the encounter with us. We neutralized them from making that play they were most comfortable with. We took their game away. Our play in the transition was effective where we made penetration to get behind them.”
He disclosed that the sending off of Jemar Harrigon changed the complexity of the contest, noting “It was at the moment of defending in the midfield in the first half, approximately 20 minutes in that Jemar Harrigon blocked a pass low down with his right thigh and was subsequently red carded. Guyana played 25 minutes more with 10 men. That moment would swing the game in Nicaragua’s favour giving them the upper hand in the numbers. Despite the numerical advantage, we continued to work hard and defended stoutly to deny them space. Eventually, the half ended 0-0.”
Dover continued, “The second half saw them come out and push forward relentlessly to try to break us down and with the extra man, there was a two second lapse in concentration which provided the opportunity that they took to score the only goal of the game. Guyana continued to fight pushing higher up the field in search of a goal and during that period, we created two chances we didn’t capitalize on to pull a draw or record a famous comeback win. The game ended with the same one goal to Nicaragua who topped the group with the maximum points of 12, while Guyana finished second on nine points.”
The former Alpha United tactician thanked the Guyana Football Federation [GFF] for the opportunity to continue at the helm of the program, adding, “I want to also thank the Technical Director for his support throughout the campaign. I want to thank Coach Marcio Maximo for his advice and support to merge many sessions with the seniors, which helped greatly. I want to thank all the technical staff members that worked with the team, we were a good team behind a great young team.”
He also thanked his players for their sterling performance.
“I want to thank the players for the heart they showed in all the battles they fought in this campaign. Thank you guys. And at last but not least, I want to thank God Almighty for everything he has done for us. God is the greatest.”
