Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
One game away from historic tournament win
By Franklin Wilson in Suriname. In association with Humphrey’s Bakery & Farm Products, Ketley Street, Charlestown
Suriname Independence Cup, Tournament Manager, Aniel Ghisaidoobe left presenting Wayne Dover with a bouquet of flowers on his birthday.
When this young and inexperienced squad left Guyana overland on Monday last for neighboring Suriname to compete in the inaugural Suriname Independence Cup, very few people were of the view that they would do well against teams that whipped them only a few months ago.
But this young bunch of ‘Golden Jaguars’ led by seasoned campaigner Howard Lowe has risen to the occasion with two wins in as many matches and they are just a win away from lifting the championship cup this evening.
It was again the Devon Millington show as he clinically slotted the ball into the back of the nets in the 29th minute against the Netherlands Antilles to seal Guyana’s second win by a similar 1-0 margin, having defeated the home team on Wednesday night at the Andre Kamperveen Stadion, Parimaribo, Suriname.
The win was not a comprehensive one but the ‘Golden Jaguars’ were able to hold on against a determined Netherlands Antilles unit who did well having lost their opening game against French Guiana 4-1.
The Surinamese rebounded in style to inflict a 4-1 beating on French Guiana in the feature game on Friday evening.
Guyana’s performance was not as compact and decisive as the Suriname match up and Head Coach Wayne Dover said he will have to review their performance going into their final and crucial match against the French side tonight. The win though, was a perfect birthday present for Coach Dover.
Speaking with Kaieteur Sport after the game, Dover said the team did not play like the unit he saw in the first game, pointing out that it could have been an issue of over confidence since a number of the guys were heard saying that they will win by a 5 or 6 goal margin.
“But I told them that every game brings a different situation and that is definitely what happened tonight (Friday night). We had a difficult time penetrating these guys whom I think played well coming off such a huge defeat. Fortunately for us, we came out on top.”
The technical staff made two changes to the side that opposed Suriname, Dwain Jacobs was left out nursing a knee injury and Reshawn Sandiford was drafted in for him. Peter Parks replaced Marvin Joseph in the starting eleven.
Dover acknowledged that his charges were poor in passing, positioning and reaction, noting that they seemed to be out of it mentally.
“We will have to see how we can work on strengthening their mental approach to this final game and I’m sure that the rest will regenerate them as we focus on tonight’s game.”
Commenting on the ‘Golden Jaguars’ posting back to back wins, Dover said he was very happy for the young players noting that to regain the status that Guyana achieved in that historic run in the Digicel Caribbean Championships 2006/07, these players must get exposure.
“I think these youngsters have done well so far under the captaincy of Howard Lowe and I really would like to applaud the GFF for this programme of exposing these youths and there is a lot of room for improvement with this very young team. I want to applaud all the players for the efforts they have been putting in.”
The team went through a recovery session yesterday at the Essed Stadium and with a number of other players nursing niggling injuries, the Technical staff will have their work cut out in coming up with the right combination for this evening’s final game. They were scheduled to do some tactical training at the same venue this morning.
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