MiICHAEL Johnson, head coach of the ‘Golden Jaguars’, said his side “didn’t deserve to win” their November 20 clash in Cayenne with French Guiana in the CONCACAF Nations League.

French Guiana defeated Guyana 2-1, and the result ultimately ended Guyana’s dreams of qualifying for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, since only the top 10 of the 34-team tournament will play in the confederation’s marquee championship.

Having played to a disappointing 2-2 draw with Barbados at home, Guyana rebounded to ‘brush aside’ Turks and Caicos and based on the other results, Johnson needed a win against French Guiana to solidify his place at the 2019 June 15–July 7 event.

Johnson, via his Facebook account, shared that he was disappointed in his team’s first-half performance where they conceded a goal just 15 minutes and failed to capitalise on a few chances of their own, to trail going into the second half.

French Guiana’s Jules Haabo completed his double just seconds into the second half and despite several efforts from Guyana, including Neil Danns’ 59th minute goal, it was not enough to see them leaving Cayenne with a win.

“Not entirely sure why but we didn’t start which for me was so alarming. We fought back (in the) second half and scored a goal but we didn’t deserve the win in my opinion. We go again in March,” Johnson said in a very candid post.

The 44-year-old former Jamaican International was appointed the country’s head coach in June and had told reporters at his first press conference, at the SleepIn International Hotel that he was looking forward to the challenge of taking Guyana to their first ‘Gold Cup’ tournament, but more importantly, building a formidable national team during his three-year contractual period.

Before 2007 when Guyana, behind Trinidadian Jamaal Shabazz, were ranked 90 by FIFA, Guyana’s highest ranking (86) came under coach Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover. Since then (2010), the country’s other best placing came in 2011 (91) and 2012 (92).In the latest FIFA Ranking, Guyana sit at 179 in the world.

The former Cardiff City, Birmingham City and Notts County defender believed that his goals and his expectations from the Wayne Forde-led GFF was ‘achievable’ and had explained:

“I believe we can do something with the youth talent, I believe we can get to top 100, I believe we can qualify for the Gold Cup. So that attracted me to the role; now it’s my job to go and attract other members of potentially the incoming staff.”

However, after kicking off his CONCACAF Nations League qualifier campaign, some pundits and fans are not pleased with Johnson’s approach and even question his ability to truly take the GFF’s flagship programme to the next level.