Golden Jaguars roars to 1-1 tie against Soca Warriors

Sep 28, 2010 Sports

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Head of State President Bharrat Jagdeo holds the Presidents Cup along with the Captains of Trinidad & Tobago Clyde Leon and Guyana's Howard Lowe after Sunday's night's 1-1 draw. (Photo by Obrey's Photo Studio)

Under-20 clash ends 0-0; Linden U-20 thumps National U-17’s 2-0

By Franklin Wilson

On a windy and beautiful evening at Guyana’s number sporting venue, the National Stadium, Providence, old rivals Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago faced off in the feature event of the inaugural President’s Cup Football clash.
The thousands of fans who packed the Stadium in support of their ‘Golden Jaguars’ were treated to some exciting ball play between a known powerhouse in the Caribbean, Soca Warriors and an emerging powerhouse.
The game petered out into a tame 1-1 draw following 90 minutes of pulsating action plus 3 minutes of added on time.
The scene for the night was set by the Junior Golden Jaguars (Under-20) which held the Junior Soca Warriors to a goalless draw in another exciting match-up while the day’s opening game saw the National Under-17 team going down to an Upper Demerara Under-20 side made up of a number of Under-17 players, 2-0.
The feature game was witnessed by His Excellency President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Ministers of Housing and Agriculture, Irfan Ali and Robert Persaud, GFF President Colin Klass along with the top brass of a number of sponsors of the game including Banks DIH, GT&T and New GPC Inc.
The main event saw both teams working the ball around in the opening moments of the encounter as they sought to feel each other out.
The Jaguars though were matching their counterparts play for play and made some promising runs in the Soca Warriors’ attacking third.
Dwain Jacobs (midfield) continues to prove his value as a regular fixture in the Golden Jaguars line up and was not afraid to take shots at goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams who had to stretch at full length to parry the ball away from one of Jacobs’ many shots in the first half.
Anthony Abrams squandered a golden opportunity to put Guyana ahead, already getting past the defence but was not hungry enough to score placing the ball over the cross bar.
Trinidad too, did hit the cross bar on a few occasions and excellent goalkeeping from Ronson Williams kept them at bay also.
But it was the Trinis who cantered in to the lead 35 minutes in to the battle. Lester Peltier, currently playing with Mau Pau FC in T&T formerly of San Juan Jabloteh and who was denied a work permit to play in the EPL, created all sorts of problems for the Guyanese and he who it was that passed the ball for forward Devon Jorsling to rock the nets.
Jorsling showed why he is the current leading goal scorer in the T&T Pro League with 12 goals representing the T&T Defence Force.
Jorsling was also a guest player with the Guyana Defence Force in the last Kashif & Shanghai tournament.
The Trinidadians took the lead when Guyana were enjoying a good period of play but some lapses in the defence created the opening for the goal.
Momentarily the ‘Golden Jaguars’ was stunned and the crowd silenced, but both soon regained composure and refocused on the task at hand. While the Trinis were now in the driver’s seat the home team continued to take the attack to them and with two minutes remaining to half time, the equalizer was realized. Dwain Jacobs it was who orchestrated the play which ended with the Dwight Peters burying his shot past the hapless Jan Michael Williams in the 43rd minute.
Both teams made changes at varying times during the second half, Guyana’s first change was made in the first half, debutant defender Denver Dennis of Buxton United was replaced by Brion Baker.
No goals were scored in the second half which was also eagerly contested, chances created both ways.
The result for Guyana will boost their confidence ahead of competition in the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup competition which kicks off on October 2 in Puerto Rico with Stage one Group A play between the host country St. Martin, Cayman Islands and Anguilla.
The Guyanese Under-20 team also did excellent in holding the Trinidadians to a 0-0 draw. The junior ‘Golden Jaguars’ were not intimidated by the fact that a number of the T&T players were part of their country’s World Cup squad (U-20) to Egypt last year.
Captain Colin Nelson, who played central defence, led his teammates admirably from the front marshalling his colleagues throughout the encounter.
Head Coach Gordon ‘Ultimate Warrior’ Braithwaite was pleased with the performance of his team as they too are preparing for Regional competition; the CFU World Under-20 qualifiers, Guyana will be hosting Jamaica, United States Virgin Islands and Grenada from October 6-10.
Sunday’s opening game of the triple header saw Upper Demerara’s Under-20’s which also included a number of Under-17 players defeating the National Under-17 team 2-0 compliments of goals from Gary King Gomes in the 25th minute and Owen Williams in the 44th.

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