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Suriname needle ‘Golden Jaguars’ in tough battle
Big win at home needed to advance
By Franklin Wilson compliments of Digicel and Carib
Guyana’s ‘Golden Jaguars’ went down to host Suriname by the lone goal of their encounter in the first leg of their 2nd round FIFA World Cup South Africa Caribbean Football Union Qualifying round action yesterday at the Andre Kamperveen Stadium in Paramaribo Suriname.
Watched by a vociferous capacity crowd, the Jaguars fought hard but a lapse in defence at a critical point in the game cost the Guyanese the game, beaten but not disgraced.
They will now have to regroup and come out blazing in the return encounter, a must win sit
uation which is set for the Providence Stadium on Sunday.
Neither of the teams were able to throttle away from each other as the exchanges were even up until the half way mark in what was a close battle all along. Guyana enjoyed good possession but were not as effective as they could have been on the flanks.
The starting line up had to be altered due to some administrative shortfalls which prevented the Newton brothers from playing, more so, Howard, who was on the starting list.
For the players to play in the World Cup qualifiers, they must have a Guyanese passport and Kaieteur Sport understands that the acquisition of this important document is almost complete.
Technical Director Jamaal Shabazz said he is not blaming this blunder for the defeat but believes that the culpable persons could have done better.
GFF President Colin Klass who witnessed the game said that he was in contact with high ranking FIFA and CFU officials on the matter and was hoping that the Match Commissioner would have granted some concession since the passports would be available anytime this week, but the Netherlands Antilles Official did not budge, saying he could not allow the player to be part of the team.
There was some level of disappointment on the part of the team since Howard is an integral part of the starting eleven and has been training all along for this big moment.
All things being equal, the Newton brothers will be able to play in the return fixture on Sunday.
The Guyanese after being solid in the first period of play looked a bit timid at the beginning of the second period while the host team carried the attack to the Jaguars and it paid off 7 minutes into the half.
Clifton Sanduliet capitalizing on an error at the back by Carey Harris who did not clear the ball cleanly to fire past the diving Richard Reynolds at the near post.
Chances were created by the locals but were not put away, Collie Hercules was in the right place at the right time early in the second half but his effort went wide of the mark. A few chances were created by the Jaguars’ but went wide of the mark and they were also guilty of not shooting to goal as often as they should have.
In an effort to force the equaliser, a double change was made with Hercules and Dwain Jacobs making way for Anthony Abrams and Nigel Codrington and a few minutes later, Konata Manning replaced Kwesi Johnson.
The changes added some life to the attack but not enough to create the equaliser. And despite the fact that the Surinamese were reduced to 10 men mid way the half when Rinaldo Lupson was issued with his 2nd yellow, Guyana could not find the equaliser.
The score could have been doubled a few minutes later but the ball from a 35 meter shot rebounded back into play off the cross bar.
Shabazz believes that his charges fought hard against a very spirited Surinamese team who were very skillful down the flanks.
He believes that when the Guyanese got the ball they took it a bit too much forward rather than take shots when in good range of the opponents goal.
“We did not force the keeper to save and did not turn the penetrations we got behind their defence into attempts at goal. We never took the opportunities to get off the shots even though we found ourselves in the position to do it.”
Shabazz also believes that Guyana allowed the opposition too much space down the lines (flanks) and that made the difference.
“The wingers for them were very skillful and fast and we never attempted to block the line as we do in practice, we were rushing in a lot and did not do very well in the defensive third.”
He also shared the view that it will be a different game in Guyana but there is a lot of work to be done.
“We hope that we would be able to get the grounds we want to train on to put in the kind of work we would like to. But I think come Sunday it would be a much more confident Guyana team.”
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