Concacaf Nations League
By Michelangelo Jacobus
Guyana’s National Men’s football team, the Golden Jaguars, suffered a tough 3-1 defeat to Guatemala in their Concacaf Nations League ‘A’ fixture on homesoil as an Oscar Santis brace either side of halftime ensured that his side left the National Track & Field Center (NTFC), Edinburgh, West Coast Demerara with three points.
While it will be a tough pill for the Golden Jaguars and Head coach Jamal Shabazz to swallow, they showed glimpses of brilliance and in a feisty first half, they will rue several missed chances which could have seen them score at least three goals as left-winger Stephen Duke-McKenna was ominous with the ball at his feet in attack.
The game was a tale of two halves with Guyana dominating the first half before the visitors settled their nerves to totally outplay the Guyanese in the second half, eventually easing to a comfortable win in the end.
In the opening exchanges, ‘La Azul y Blanco’ were aggressive pushing the home side back into their own half which resulted in the first attempt of the game, Guatemala’s Nathaniel Mendez-Laing blazing just wide in the seventh minute following a prolonged period of buildup play. Not to be outdone, Duke-McKenna responded a few minutes later with a shot of his own which went high.
The rest of the half descended into end to end action as the Guyanese started to find a rhythm on the field. Omari Glasgow managed to get a shot off in the 17th minute but it was blocked resulting in a lightning fast counter-attack from the Guatemalan side.
The counter saw Mendez Laing slipping Santis through on goal which the right winger buried with aplomb to spark celebrations among his teammates much to the disappointment of the relatively packed stands at Edinburgh.
The goal seemed to spur Guyana into action and they spent much of the remaining first half with forays into the Guatemalan goal area, which was rewarded in the 31st minute when Duke-Mckenna would curl arguably the goal of the game into the back of the Guatemalan net to draw the Jaguars level. The superbly taken goal was the end result of an attractive sequence of passing between the Guyanese, with Nathan Moriah-Welsh grabbing the assist.
With the sides level, Duke-McKenna, Moriah-Welsh and Omari Glasgow all had goalscoring opportunities as the first half drew to a close but they fluffed their lines, something that would come back to haunt them in the end.
Upon resumption after the break, the Golden Jaguars found themselves presented with a couple of opportunities with Jalen Jones and Colin Nelson unable to convert their chances.
The momentum from the first half seemed to leave the hosts and Guatemala settled into their work, pinning the Guyanese down with accurate passing and swift transitions in attack.
Oscar Castellanos would grab Guatemala’s second goal in the 61st minute, smashing the ball into an empty net after Aaron Herrera’s cross from the right wing evaded both Guyana’s goalie Quilan Roberts and a Guatemalan attacker.
That goal knocked the wind out to the Guyanese sails as the defence became disorganized constantly having to chase the ball. While the Guyanese had their rare moments in attack, Guatemala’s keeper Nicholas Hagen was more than capable of dealing with each attempt.
Santis would all but seal the deal seven minutes later, scoring his second of the match in the 68th minute to put his side 3-1 up. While there would be no more goals in the match, the Guatemalan side saw out the game without mishap to run out 3-1 winners. With that win, Guatemala sit on top of the League A Group A standings with 7 points (2 wins, 1 draw) while Guyana’s tough campaign sees them sitting at the bottom of the table in sixth with a solitary point. The Guyanese have suffered two defeats and a draw from their three games thus far. The other teams in the group are Costa Rica, Suriname, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Guyana’s next assignment will be a return trip to Suriname with that match slated for next Tuesday (October 15).
