The Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s flagship men’s programme, suffered an unceremonious and embarrassing exit from the first round of the 2021 Gold Cup Preliminary round, losing to Guatemala 0-4 last evening at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Guyana’s starting XI consisted of Kai McKenzie-Lyle, Matthew Briggs, Terrence Vancooten, Reiss Greenidge, Nicholai Andrews, Job Caesar, Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Daniel Wilson, Keanu Marsh-Brown, Stephen Duke-McKenna and Emery Welshman.
Guatemala, who maintained their unbeaten record against Guyana, dominated every statistical category and the match was far from competitive. The Central Americans, who are now unbeaten in 10 fixtures, amassed an impressive 65% possession, which translated to 20 attempts, 14 corner-kicks and 331 passes, of which 279 were successfully completed.
The Golden Jaguars, who stumbled to their fourth loss in the five matches, only tallied four total attempts, six corner-kicks and 123 passes, with only 103 finding their intended target. 70 of Guyana’s total passes occurred in the first half.
Guatemala almost took the lead in the 12th minute but a looping header over the advancing goalkeeper was cleared off the goal-line acrobatically by defender Briggs. The goal for the Guatemalans, who were camped in the Guyana half for majority of the stanza, eventually followed in the 21st minute, as defender Greenidge recorded an unfortunate own goal.
A tame right footed strike from 30 yards out in the centre of the field was inexplicably redirected by the outstretched leg of the left-back, wrong-footing the goalkeeper and settling into the lower right corner.
Guyana did not fashion a shot on target in the entire half, with their best opportunity arising in the 36th minute when midfielder Duke-McKenna fired a right footed free-kick from outside the right of the penalty area, over the crossbar.
The Guyanese did record a red card in the 40th minute, Marsh-Brown being the culprit.
The incident, which led to the dismissal, felt more at home in a mixed martial arts (MMA) contest, as the Guyanese player was given his marching orders for a reckless boot to the head of his opposing number.
Upon resumption, the Central Americans doubled their lead in the 54th minute when Luis Martinez etched his name on the scorer’s sheet with a sublime effort.
Poor defending by Vancooten led to the conversion as a diving defender chested the ball into the path of the forward, who volleyed into the net despite the desperate attempts to clear the ball off the goal-line by the trailing Andrews.
Stheven Robles almost made it 3-0 in the 61st minute, unleashing a powerful right footed strike from the top of the 18 yard area which crashed into the crossbar.
However, the introduction of Omari Glasgow for the Guyanese provided an offensive spark, as Guyana crafted their two notable chances of the match in the space of three minutes.
First up was Welshman who was denied in the 68th minute by the onrushing goalkeeper inside the center of the six yard area. Glasgow then forced a smart save by the custodian with his legs one minute later, after racing onto a pass inside the right of the area.
Nonetheless, Darwin Lam extinguished any hopes of Guyana staging a comeback in the 71st minute, redirecting an initial left footed shot from the right side of the box into the back of the net with a clinical header.
Substitute forward Jose Martinez then applied the finishing touch in the 80th minute to seal the score-line, thumping his diving header unchallenged into the left corner, after receiving a cross from the right side of the field.