FOLLOWING the Guyana Golden Jaguars’ 2-0 loss to the Guatemala football team in the International Friendly Tuesday night at the Guyana National Stadium, the head coach of the home side Jamaal Shabazz thinks that his team took away some positives from the encounter. Guatemala bounced back from their loss last week to Paraguay with this victory over the Jaguars as Mynor Lopez and Guillermo Ramirez were successful in finding the back of the net in the 32nd and 93rd minutes respectively.
The conditions for the game favoured neither side as the damp outfield caused by torrential overnight and persistent rainfall during the day made the playing surface very moist thus causing both teams not to perform to their full potential.
Guyana played an impressive game in the first half and had more chances on goal than the visitors but when it came to finishing they lacked the final touch.
In fact, with the few chances the Guatemalans had they made the most of them, even though the Jaguars defended well but easily gave away a goal during a goal-mouth scrimmage where Lopez scored.
During the second half they were able to restrict the opposition’s scoring but with the fitness factor becoming suspect and Walter Moore unwisely acquiring a red card, Guyana were put in no position to stage a late fightback, hence giving the visitors the upper hand to score again.
In the post-game interview, Shabazz  stated that the result was not much of a bother but some of the aspects they have been working on did not go as he envisioned. He implied that it was a good performance against a team of such high calibre.
Prior to the match, the coach mentioned that they would be working on how they would attain possession of the ball.
When asked about his thoughts on that, he said: “In the first half we did very well in possession; we forced them to kick the ball and it became sort a ping-pong battle, it was kind of a dogfight so I was satisfied with that in the first half but in the second half where we started to wear down the quality dropped where winning the ball was concerned.”
“At the start of the second half we should have equalised 30 seconds in and it’s a good sign we can build an attack against a CONCACAF opponent, but there is more work to put in to get into the game. But more games of this level will create the environment of optimum improvement,” he added.
He continued: “I feel happy we were able to hold our own even though it was not the result that we would have liked but in the learning curve against quality opponents, this is how it’s going to be.”
The coach noted that he was not pleased with Moore’s red-card ejection by saying: “I’m more disappointed in him getting a red card than the loss, because this is how the Central American teams play; they elbow you, step on your toes, get in your head and it is a tough game and sometimes it’s tougher to not react to situations as such.”
Taking the positives from the match, the Trinidadian native believed that the win for Guyana came in getting as much guys on the pitch while also maintaining their strategy of play. He stated that they need to work on distribution of the ball from the goal and also winning the ‘second ball’ or attacking the ball in the air.
Finally, he gave his thoughts on the Guyanese forward, Shawn Beveney: “I thought he worked hard but thought he could have done better, but he is not a player like Gregory Richardson or Anthony Abrams or Nigel Codrington; he is a big guy and playing against the Central Americans we needed him.”
Beveney’s performance against the Guatemalans did not sit right with the meagre fans who came out to support the match because he more than often was unable to finish near goal or easily gave up possession at critical times.
Shabazz continued: “The fans don’t love him but I was satisfied with what he was doing, I love him to death and will keep working with him to correct his faults.”
Now the Jaguars move to preparations for June 8 in the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers where they meet the mighty Mexicans in their third round fixture.