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Barbados International Beach Soccer Showcase…Captain Joseph leads from the front as Jaguars beat B’dos 4-3
By Sean Devers in Barbados
Skipper Deshawn Joseph netted a brace while Kennard Simon and Keon Sears found the back of the net once to give Guyana’s Golden Jaguars a 4-3 win against host Barbados on night two of the Barbados International Beach Scorer Showcase at Brandon’s Beach on Saturday night.
The Guyanese team suffered a 5-2 loss to Trinidad & Tobago before going down 5-1 to England on Friday but had the Bajans on the back foot from the inception on Saturday night.
Keon Sears (left) Kennard Simon and Skipper Deshawn Joseph (2) were the stars as Jaguars beat Barbados 4-3.
Barbados, who replaced Guatemala in next week’s COCACAF World Cup qualifier in Bahamas, seemed surprised by the pace by the smaller, faster Guyanese and never came to terms with being forced to change their usual style of playing the ball in the air as the Jaguars employed plenty of cross running and penetrated with lots of movements.
In strong wind and with a good sized crowd watching, the Bajans were never allowed to use their height to play the ball with their head or chest as the visitors enjoyed more possession.
The Jags, who had an early morning practice session on Saturday, displayed improved skill level and their Custodian Ethan Spearman threw his body around a lot more than he did on the opening night when their defensive end let them down.
Joseph, who netted against T&T on Friday, scored with a free kick in the 8th minute to give the Jaguars an early lead which they never relinquished throughout the contest. The Jaguars wasted a few opportunities as Bajan Keeper Clarke made a few outstanding saves as both Goalkeepers were on top of their game. A free kick by Joseph was shot wide of the mark as the Guyanese continued to attack.
After the first 15-minute period ended 1-nil, Simon, who scored against England, the best team in the tournament, on night one, give Guyana a 2-nil lead when he found the back of the net in the 4th minute of the second period.
With pulsating ‘Crop Over’ Soca being played and urged on by the partisan crowd, Reshawn Boxhill provided Barbados with their first goal as the second period ended with Guyana leading 2-1.
Jamar Grazette capitalised on defense error infront of the goal mouth and fired one past Spearman in the 11th minute of the final period to level the scores but Sears’ goal put the inexperienced Golden Jaguars back in the lead.
Joseph, Guyana’s leading scorer so far, pushed his team to a 4-2 lead with his second goal of the match.
Daniel Rowe netted in the dying stages of the contest for Barbados and the match ended 4-3 with Guyana getting their first three points in the tournament which was scheduled to conclude last night.
The victorious team was given pep talks by GFF’s Technical Director Ian Greenwood and Exco Member of the GFF Keith Ojeer who arrived in Barbados on Saturday morning.
An elated Jaguars Coach Abdulla Hamid said the guys are motivated by the win since they were able to make the necessary adjustments from the first day and are all confident moving forward.
“At our practice session we made some adjustments on the defensive end and learned from watching how Antigua played against them (Barbados). The standard of the Caribbean teams is not too bad and this is a developmental process going into the qualifiers. More of these tournaments are needed in the Region to help raise the standard of Beach Soccer in this part of the world,” added the Coach from Linden.
“From tonight (Saturday) the games have been given ‘Tier one’ status and this win will move us up the rankings,” Hamid concluded.
Guyana was set to play Antigua & Barbuda last night. They depart for the Bahamas on Friday. The Golden Jaguars play the last game on the opening night (Feb 20) of the CONCACAF Qualifiers against the host team.
In the other matches played on Saturday night, England drew 5-5 with Antigua & Barbuda while Barbados lost their second game of the night when they were mauled 6-2 by T&T, one of the top teams in CONCACAF.
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