BY GIVING up five goals in two games, Alpha United now find themselves between a rock and a hard place as they compete in the CONCACAF Champions League.
The Alpha boys lost their opener against Honduras’ Olimpia Deportivo 1-0 then suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Portland Timbers; both home games, played at the Guyana National Stadium.
The Guyanese club will now travel to Honduras for their August 28 return game against Olimpia after which a trip to the USA will see them play Portland Timbers at Providence Park on September 23 to wrap up their Champions League campaign.
Coach Wayne Dover after his lost to the Honduras club was optimistic of redemption against the CONCACAF Champions League debutant American team but the result only placed Alpha United in a position that he said is not “impossible, but highly improbable” for them move on to the knock-out stage.
Speaking at the post-match press conference at the Guyana National Stadium after their Portland Timbers defeat, the former National coach pointed out, “This is a very uphill task now for us because we have conceded five goals in the tournament; this will make it very difficult.
“We will go back to the drawing board, we will look at the tapes and we will try our best to see how we can do in those other two games.”
With two more games left to play, the team’s coach was asked how he will motivate his players. Dover pointed out “It’s a situation where some of the guys will look at it like it’s already over, but we as coaches will have to ensure that we put in their heads that it’s not over as yet, though it’s difficult for us to qualify, and we will try to use all methods to try to motivate them for the next two games and still look for the results.
“If we don’t get it, we can appreciate the fact that we played at this level and the guys gained the experience for future tournaments at this level.”
The game against the Portland Timbers was a historic one, since it marked the first time an MLS team would be playing a Guyanese club and in Guyana.
Steve Zakuani, Maximiliano Urruti, Fanendo Adi and Jamaican international Alva Powell were the goalscorers for the MLS side and reflecting on the game, Dover said, “We came looking for the results, were disciplined early on in what we wanted to do. We lost our discipline in the later stage of the first half and in the second half”
Despite Alpha United’s Brazilian right-back Barbosa Murilo scoring a master-class free kick that featured on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays, Alpha United were outplayed by a well-oiled Portland Timbers and, according to Dover, the game brought out a distinct difference between a professional team and amateurs.
Dover pointed out that once a team, especially a team that play at an amateur level, make what he deems “elementary mistakes” against professionals, they will be punished.
(By Rawle Toney)
