Guyana swamp Antigua 7-0; Dominican Republic outclass Anguilla 5-0
A HELMET-TRICK from Otesha Charles and a goal each from captain Ashley Savona, Tessa Edwards and Elysia Prasad saw Guyana open their Caribbean Football Union (CFU), CONCACAF Under-20 qualifiers with a 7-0 win over Antigua and Bermuda yesterday at the Uitvlugt Community Centre ground. Watched by a vocal crowd at the West Coast of Demerara venue, the ‘Junior Lady Jags’, though having little time to train prior to the start of the tournament, showed signs that they are eager to follow in the footsteps of the senior Women’s team who became the first Guyanese team to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup last year in Mexico.
The Antiguans found out early that Guyana were more than focused of moving on to the second round of the qualifiers when Prasad found the back of the net just a few seconds after kick-off.
Four minutes later, Edwards made it 2-0 when she picked up on a well-passed ball in the 18-yard area from Savona and just before halftime the captain scored one of her own.
Charles’ goals came in the 11th, 30th, 42nd and 58th minutes as the nifty striker was too much for the defenders to handle.
The win now places Guyana atop Group D of the qualifiers on goal difference, even though the Dominican Republic whipped Anguilla five goals to nil.
Yqaueisi Soriano netted a hat-trick, scoring in the 28th, 46th and 54th minutes, while Anaj Aira Burgos (60th and 88th) scored the other two for the Spanish-speaking island.
After the game, Guyana coach Mark Rodrigues said that he was satisfied with the performance of his side, even though they had little or no practice time due to the untidiness of their training venue as a result of the recent heavy downpours.
He said that he was more pleased with the response from the girls as it relates to their execution of plays that they had learnt by just using the drawing board.
“I think we did more than well if you look at the fact that we haven’t really trained here so we didn’t get to practically work on systems but the girls did well, I’m proud of them and they are a happy bunch and that’s a good thing. I sense that they want to win and I think we at the coaching staff owe them that much for their commitment shown to the programme,” said Rodrigues.
Meanwhile, Guyana would be chasing win number two tomorrow at the same venue when they face Anguilla in the second game of the double-header at 15:00hrs while Antigua and Bermuda will try to redeem themselves against a goal-hungry Dominican Republic side.