Despite the Lady Jaguars failing to advance to the CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championship, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) stated that it’s proud of the team’s overall performance at the recently concluded qualifiers in the Dominican Republic.
This was confirmed in an official release from the federation.
Guyana in a must win encounter on Wednesday, played to a 0-0 stalemate with the host nation, the Dominican Republic, to finish second in group C. Both teams ended on seven points but the Dominicans advanced due to their superior goal differential of +18 compared to Guyana’s +16.
GFF President Wayne Forde said, “I am deeply proud of the outstanding performances our girls were able to deliver in each game that they played. The final game against the Dominican Republic was a true test of will and spirit and our girls fought and defended as though their lives depended on a positive outcome, which they achieved with a draw. I know that I speak for the players and coaching staff when I say we are all a bit heartbroken over this result, but I am equally confident we all share in the collective pride we feel as a GFF family and as a nation.”
He further said, “This is a young team and many of the players will have a second shot at qualifying for the Concacaf Championship next time around. It is now my task to continue to build on an already sturdy foundation, which has enabled the steady progress we are making in women’s football. I would like to close by thanking our colleagues from the International Support Group (ISG) for their hard work and dedication to the programme.”
Meanwhile, Head coach Paul DeAbreu said, “As a team we are very happy to have been one of the competitive teams in Group C of Concacaf U20 Qualifiers. Coming into this tournament, our main goal was to qualify for the Championship, and the team played brilliantly over the three matches but came up short in our last match against the Dominican Republic. Our girls held their own against a very good Dominican Republic team and should be proud of the overall performance throughout the tournament. I will leave you with this, the best team didn’t win, but the lucky team did.”
