,,, Dover warns players, staff of complacency

By Rawle Toney

WAYNE Dover, coach of Guyana’s National U-20 team, is keeping his sight set on advancing to the June 20 – July 5 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Honduras. But, first, he will have to make it out of the qualifying tournament in Nicaragua, where they are currently in second place in Group A behind the host nation.

Guyana will play the US Virgin Islands today and are keen on keeping their perfect record intact. After rallying to an impressive 6-0 win over Montserrat in their opening game, Dover’s men, in their second day out at the Nicaragua National Football Stadium, stormed to a 3-0 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Meanwhile, Dover warned both players and members of his coaching staff of being overconfident, stating that “we’ll play USVI in our third game. Is time for the players to come back to earth to refocus on the mission ahead; USVI isn’t a walk in the park, and no game is easy”.

According to Dover, “We have to ensure no complacency steps in where the players and staff start thinking the team is easy to beat and we achieved already. We have to approach the game with a level of seriousness and confidence. We have to be disciplined and play hard like in the previous games to continue with the good results achieved.”

Nicaragua, who opened the tournament with an 8-0 thrashing over the US Virgin Islands, blanked Montserrat 4-0 in their second game and edged St Vincent and the Grenadines 2-0 in the other. The results meant that Guyana, with a total of nine goals, are five goals behind Group A’s host nation.

With only one team advancing and both Nicaragua and Guyana showing that they are the most superior teams in the four-team group, it will likely come down to either goal difference, or the outcome of their meeting on February 23.