… Guyana to tackle Cayman Islands today

By Rawle Toney

LADY Jags will take on Cayman Islands today at the Estadio Panamericano stadium in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, in the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championship Round-of-16 action, from 19:00hrs.  

But while even reaching the tournament’s knockout stage is a historic achievement itself, head coach Dr Ivan Joseph is least concerned about making history, telling Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview that “we’re not thinking about making history, what we think about is the present and how do we prepare for this opponent.”

“We’re not even thinking about the next game until the current game is done, and so while it’s nice to say that we’re creating history, the reality of it is that we’re playing for each other and we’re trying to make sure that we’re playing for in the moment,” the usually candid Joseph explained.

Playing in the tournament’s group stage, the Lady Jags’ only defeat came from defending champions Mexico, where they were beaten 3-0. The loss saw them finish second in Group D behind the Mexicans.

Cayman Islands, on the other hand, narrowly made it out of their group which also featured Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and St Kitts and Nevis.

In their first game against Haiti, Cayman Islands went down 8-0, followed by a 2-0 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago and they then edged St Kitts & Nevis 3-2 in their final Group H game.

Guyana, playing in Group D, eased past Nicaragua 3-1, downed Puerto Rico 2-1, before closing out against Mexico.

“We’re in a strong position of success and we’re happy with where we are, but we’re not contented, so we have lots of work still yet to do, but the best is yet to come,” the Canada-based coach said.

Meanwhile, commenting on what he wants the outcome of their successful run in the tournament to bring to the forefront of the sport in Guyana, Dr Joseph reasoned that he hopes to see elevation of the women’s arm of the game.

“It’s hard to see the men’s game at the level that it is and see all the money that is spent on that programme. We have got to now re-ignite of women’s senior national team with some young U-20s in there, to continue the momentum, which will continue to push us forward,” said Dr Joseph.

A win for Guyana today will see them playing the winners between Group H winners Haiti, and theBarbados in the quarter-finals.