– Guyana finish Gold Cup with heartbreaking 1 – 1 draw against T&T
By Rawle Toney in Kansas City (Compliments of Let’s Bet Sports)
NEIL Danns scored what many thought would’ve been the winning goal for Guyana in the 54th minute, but Kevin Molino, with a bit of help, thanks to some goalkeeping blunder, equalised in the 80th minute for Trinidad and Tobago as the game ended 1 – 1 between the regional rivals.
Coach Michael Johnson made some dramatic changes to the starting line-up from the team that went down 4 – 2 to Panama.
Quillan Roberts, who plays for Forge FC in the Canadian Premier League, made his International debut as the starting goalkeeper, while Western Tigers’ Pernell Schultz, UK-based Kadell Daniel, Ronayne Marsh-Brown, Sheldon Holder and Anthony Jeffrey had their first start of the tournament.
Keanu Marsh-Brown, Eliott Bonds, Sam Cox, Neil Danns and Terence Vancooten were the other players on the starting 11.
The game started slow, with Guyana, for the most part, controlling the bulk of the possession, but the Golden Jaguars didn’t threaten the Soca Warriors’ goal.
However, Trinidad began to press forward and had some threatening run on Guyana’s goal, forcing Roberts to pull off some crucial saves.
The two sides went into the dressing room knowing that based on the first-half play the second-half was wide open.
Johnson made some changes at the half way stage, replacing Schultz with Brandon Beresford, Callum Harriott for Jeffrey while Holder would later be replaced by Emery Welshman.
The move allowed for Danns to play more up front than he did in the first half, and the 36-year-old midfield ace found himself one-on-one with Aubrey David, a Guyanese playing for T&T, in the 18-yard box and showed the crowd at the Children’s Mercy Park why he lasted this long in English football, with a clinical finish.
Danns’ right-footed volley was curled too far out of reach for Trinidad’s Adrian Foncette.
The crowd erupted and Danns, with his teammates on his back, celebrated his 9th international goal in 11 outings for the Golden Jaguars.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end, Trinidad and Tobago continued to make some run on goal, but Daniel and Ronayne Marsh-Brown, along with Vancooten, kept them at bay.
But Molino snuck into the ’18’ and Roberts, with some ordinary goalkeeping, handed the Trinidadian the equalizer.
It was Trinidad’s first goal since their 2 – 0 win over the United Arab Emirates in September of 2018.
The two sides held on to share points at the end of 90 minutes, but it was Guyana who would finish third in the group, thanks to their superior goal difference than the ‘Trinis’.
Though the two sides conceded the same amount of goals (nine), Guyana was able to score three goals, as compared to Trinidad’s one.
