By Rawle Toney in Minnesota (Compliments of Let’s Bet Sports)

GUYANA’s Gold Cup campaign got off to rocky start, with the Golden Jaguars falling 4 – 0 to the USA in their opening Group D game at the Allianz Field in Minnesota, last night.

The USA, the tournament’s defending champions, secured the three points with goals from Paul Arriola (28th), Tyler Boyd (51st, 81st) and Gyasi Zardes (55th).

Playing at the new Allianz Field Stadium in Minnesota, the encounter between the two teams shared some historical significance, since it was the first international meeting between Guyana and the USA at the senior level in the sport, it was also the first time Guyana has ever played a match at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the history of the tournament and was also the first international match being played at the facility which was commissioned in April this year.

With 19,418 in attendance, Coach Michael Johnson started with an experimental line-up, playing Emery Welshman as his long striker, while Callum Harriot and Brandon Beresford played the wings.

Neil Danns was the distributor in the game, playing in the centre midfield position, while Keanu Marsh-brown and Elliot Bonds played just behind.

Matthew Briggs started in the left-back position, Liam Gordon played next to him, while Terrence Vancooten was the central defender, and in the right-back was debutant Jordan Dover. Akel Clarke started in goal.

The game started with both sides feeling each other out, with the USA controlling the bulk of the possession, which saw Christian Pulisic having a go at the Guyana defence early on.
However, Guyana didn’t sit back and countered several times through Harriot, who enjoyed a good game.

However, a slip in defence by debutant Dover in the 28th minute and Arriola made Guyana pay dearly. In fact, the Stars and Stripes exploited Dover’s position for the duration of the match, which also saw Boyed getting on the score sheets twice.

The Americans preyed on Guyana’s weak defence at the right, targeting Dover for the duration of the game.

Vancooten and Briggs were able to keep the likes of Pulisic and Weston Mckennie at bay for the entire night.

Guyana will next play Panama on June 22 in Cleveland, while the USA tackle Trinidad and Tobago.

In the first game of the double header last evening, Panama defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2 – 0.
A detailed report will be given in tomorrow’s edition.