THE Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s senior men’s national team, will face Bermuda tomorrow in a lead-up to the country’s debut at the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Coach Michael Johnson and his troop arrived on the British Overseas Territory this week as part of their camp and preparation for Guyana’s opening game against the USA on June 18 in Minneapolis.

A release from the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) stated that the 23-man squad arrived in Bermuda and had their first training session together on Monday.

Under the watchful eyes of coach Johnson and his technical staff, the session was held during the mid-afternoon period at the Bermuda’s National Sports Center.

Johnson said that there is a lot of excitement in the camp and in the first day of training one always has to be careful since players might tend to overdo it so it is their job to calm them down, noting that it is natural.

“Players want to impress and also stamp their authority on the training session on the opening day but obviously that would calm down as they get to know each other and learn more of the technical and tactical of what we expect them to do in and out of possession,” the former Jamaican International defender stated.

Johnson alluded to the fact that the Gold Cup is a big tournament for Guyana and one of historical proportions, reminding that this will be the country’s debut at the highest level in the Confederation.

Tomorrow’s friendly against Bermuda, Johnson posited, is well-timed and would certainly have technical folks from Panama, USA and Trinidad and Tobago observing the match for clues on Guyana, be it style of play or personnel, which means that he and team would have to be smart in their approach to this match as well as the Haiti game in Costa Rica, next week.

“So with that in mind, for me it’s not about the result as such, it’s about principles that we want to see, players trying their best, working hard, enjoying possession of the football rather than the technical and tactical side of things which would come in time for the US game.”

Following tomorrow’s encounter against Bermuda, Guyana will travel to Costa Rica where they will face Haiti on June 11.