Lady Jags lose to Cuba 1-5
… Puerto Rico 1 Trinidad 0
GUYANA’S Lady Jaguars will face neighbours Trinidad and Tobago today in their second game of the CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s Champion being contested in Cuba at the Estadio Pedro Marrero Ciudad de La Habana. Both countries lost their respective opening games last Saturday, with Guyana losing to the host nation 1-5 after scoring first while the Soca Princesses went down to Puerto Rico 1-0, with the lone goal of that match coming off the boot of S. Colon in the 80th minute.
What made the task even more monumental for the Lady Jags was the fact that leading forward Otesha Charles, who was being roughed up by the Cubans who realised she was a threat, was given marching orders by the referee in the 26th minute.
Charles, who displayed her robust and effective style in the first-round matches, held in Guyana last year, continued to be the target of the Cubans; going on one of her many breaks early in the game.
Charles was tackled (two-footed) by the Cuban centre back and had to be treated on the field and in her usual determined style, she shackled off the injury to the amazement of all present but was unfortunately red-carded soon after which placed her countrywomen under pressure.
The Lady Jags, having dominated the encounter up to that point, after the Cubans had controlled proceedings for the opening seven minutes, continued to do so despite being a player down and recorded the first goal in the 35th minute, thanks to Ashley Savona.
But the pressure of being a player down finally took its toll on the Guyanese in humid conditions and the Cubans levelled the scored on the stroke of halftime, through R. Galan.
The level of the officiating continued to be a challenge for Guyana in the second half as the visitors continued to give their all for their country.
The Cubans were able to make their one-player advantage work to good effect by hitting in four unanswered goals in the second half, through the efforts of M. Perez (56), R. Pelaez (60, 90) and M. Goitizolo (83) respectively.
Despite the scoreline, however, goalkeeper Simone Busby was outstanding in goal for Guyana who entered their training sessions ahead of today’s encounter with Trinidad and Tobago in an upbeat mood.
The Guyanese players were hosted last evening by Guyana’s Ambassador to Cuba Mitra Ali at her residence, but now find themselves in a situation where they must win their remaining two games in order to stand a chance of advancing to the CONCACAF finals.