DESPITE Guyana falling to America Football Club (AFC) 2-1 in Brazil, head coach Michael Johnson said that he was impressed with the team’s performance, as the Golden Jaguars ‘Train and Play’ Camp in Rio de Janeiro climaxes.

“We didn’t want it to end, we were saying another five, ten minutes; such was our performance, we were in the ascendency, we were pushing forward and pressing. The lads have really taken on board what we’ve been doing over the last eight days against the best team we’ve played to date,” Johnson said following Guyana’s performance at the Estádio Giulite Coutinho.

AFC is located in Mesquita in the state of Rio de Janeiro and was founded on September 18, 1904. It has been a regular in the Campeonato Brasileiro ‘Série A’ competition and have won the state championship seven times.

The host team took the lead towards the end of the first half but the energetic Guyanese team, who had been matching the AFC team play-for-play and pressuring them also, got the equaliser minutes later, when a cross from Kelsey Benjamin into their area was put into the back of the net by one of the home team defenders.

The goal came at the end of a good 10-minute period of domination by the mainly young squad in Rio, with a few senior players, including captain Samuel Cox and Vurlon Mills.

“It’s not about the results, it just shows how we are improving, how the information is going in and how they are taking it on board and applying it,” the former Jamaican international defender said, adding, “I think today (Monday) we saw lots of performances where they were actually grabbing hold of some of the key nuggets that I and senior coach Taffazul Islam Rehman have been teaching them about in the week.”

While acknowledging that this is just the beginning of exciting times for Guyana’s football, Johnson pointed out that lots more work have to be done defensively and offensively.

The Guyana-based coaches have been integrally involved in running the sessions during the initial days of the camp as it allowed the new tacticians the opportunity to assess and learn the players. The subsequent sessions, led by head coach and other members of the technical staff, have been tough but the players have been gradually adapting to the style of play, which was aptly exhibited against America FC.

“We had a really long, good look at certain players we felt had done really good over the course of the week, but the second period when the other players came on, they stepped up; and that’s great, because what you don’t want to see is people moaning or groaning or not showing that passion.”

They responded in the right and proper way and it gave another headache going into the final game last night, played against Bangu Atletico Clube.