Guyana to face Barbados in return leg  at the weekend
… Coach Hercules ready to play in hostile environment
NATIONAL coach Collie Hercules would not be having a holiday or even time to bask in  glory after his side won both of their International friendly matches (1-0 and 3-2) against Barbados, since his side will now head to the ‘Land of the Flying Fish’ for two more matches on May 27 and 29. Speaking with Chronicle Sport yesterday, Hercules said that the proposed date for their departure is Thursday (May 26) and most of all, boasted that he and his troops are prepared for an all-out war when they arrive on the Island.
Hercules a former national striker known as the ‘Hitman’, had turned to coaching last year and  first worked under Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover until getting his first stint as head coach as Guyana prepare for the FIFA Olympic Qualifiers next month.
He had drafted a team comprising mainly Under-23 players to begin his preparation but added a mixture of senior players to strike a competitive balance in the team.
Prior to the two matches, Hercules exuded much confidence in his charges, stating that he was up for the challenge and his players were responsive in training, given the short time they spent together.
Those profound spoken words were transferred into actions when the two sides clashed in their first match at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground in Linden with Guyana prevailing thanks to overseas-based and captain Christopher Bourne’s lone strike in the game that entertained the vocal crowd at the venue.
The two sides then moved to the Guyana National Stadium on Sunday last and when Barbados thought that their 2-1 lead at halftime was good enough to stave off Guyana, the locals came back, thanks to goals from Rishawn Sandiford (28th), Collin Nelson (61th) and Anani Mohammed (69th).
“This goes to show that our guys can play under pressure and can play hard as well,” Hercules opined and further added “I’m proud of their performance, the staff is proud of their performance and it’s a good sign as we prepare to head to Barbados this weekend”.
“We are expecting a tough challenge from them when we go there; I told the guys it’s not going to be a walk in the park for us because they will play hard.
They lost two games away and would want to win at home, just like how we had wanted to win at home. So, the players will now have to prepare to play twice as hard as they did last week,” said Hercules.
Asked what the composition of his team would look like for this weekend’s encounter, Hercules replied, “We would be keeping the same Under-23 players majority thing because it will do them well for preparation.
“I always say that there’s nothing like an actual game to prepare a player for any tournament. We don’t have much time so, we will be using these games to put these players in condition and game mode and let them know the importance of it as well,”
He further added that there will be a few changes in the team with Mohammed having to leave and Rishawn Clarke also making himself unavailable for the game.
“More than likely their replacements will be Under-23 players. I don’t want to run away from that but those two are the only changes expected, so far, I hope.
But we are going there to look for a win just like we did in Guyana. The players are very responsive and they try to execute whatever instruction is given to them by me and the staff and with that they will do good things.
But we’re happy to go there as well and we thank Barbados for the opportunity,” Hercules noted.
Hercules was able to take his fierce competitive nature as a player to influence those who had watched him from the stands in ‘awe’ to try and emulate his will to win.
He made it clear that to him, gone are the days when countries used to take the term ‘International Friendly’ in its practical sense since a lot more is at stake, including rankings, and, taking the heavy financial cost of preparation into consideration, winning would be their only reward.