Concacaf U-20 Championship USA 2018 – Group F... Golden Jaguars fall to Cayman Islands in close battle; still in search of elusive win

Concacaf U-20 Championship USA 2018 – Group F… Golden Jaguars fall to Cayman Islands in close battle; still in search of elusive win

Nov 07, 2018 Sports

Substitute Chris Macey (partly hidden) scores Guyana’s second goal in the 60th minute.

Story and photos by Franklin Wilson in Florida, USA
Compliments of Industrial Safety Supplies,
Secure Innovation & Concepts and Fitness Express

It was a golden performance from a group of players with loads of potential, an aggressive opening five minutes yielded their first goal of these championships, but lack of grit and cohesion in the end saw the young Guyanese losing for the first time in its history at any level to the Cayman Islands.
It was the first match of day six of the Concacaf Under-20 Championship USA 2018 which was played on Field #2 at the IMG Academy here in Bradenton, Florida, yesterday morning. The loss for Guyanese means they remain at the bottom of the 5-nation group with Guatemala and El Salvador in the first and second position separated on goal difference.
Cayman Islands is third on three points followed by Curacao which has lost both its opening matches like the Guyanese but they have a -3 goal average to Guyana’s -5.
Coming off a 0-4 loss to Guatemala in their first match on Friday last at the same field, the young Guyanese looked purposeful taking the attack to the Caymanians as they had said they would; the ploy bore early fruit when Kelsey Benjamin scored the opening goal in the 5th minute of play, 4’ 51″ to be exact.
The go ahead goal was welcome by Benjamin’s colleagues and the Technical Staff, the team finally showing what it is capable of achieving in the attacking third. Guyana continued to be aggressive as the match unfolded; Job Caesar, who stood in for first choice Captain Jeremy Garrett, going wide of the mark in the 26th minute.

Guyana’s Kelsey Benjamin scores the nation’s first goal at the championship against the Cayman Islands yesterday in the 5th minute.

With the Guyanese pressing forward, chances were created as they kept Cayman Islands on the back foot, the latter did orchestrate a few raids of their own but could not breach the Guyanese backline marshalled by Captain Garrett.
But with halftime moments away and like what happened in the Guatemala match, a lapse in concentration allowed the opposition in. This time, a foul was committed by Kwai Marsh-Brown in the box on the stroke of half time. Opposing goalkeeper, Albertini Holness sent Guyanese custodian Johnathan Vaughn the wrong way in netting the equaliser, 1-1.
Guyana added fresh legs at the start of the second half with Chris Macey replacing Thair Britton. It was a somewhat shaky start to the final 45 minutes by the young Golden Jaguars with the Cayman Islands now, on the offensive.
On 50 minutes, Guyana made its second substitution when Raushan Ritch replaced Ryan Dowding. The insertion of fresh legs added some vigour to the Guyanese team but the Cayman Islands continued to press forward; they made their first sub in the 57th minute when Kameron Mendez replaced fellow forward Leighton Thomas Jnr.
Mere moments after the change, the Caymanians, through a pile driver off the boot of the dangerous Kareem Foster sent his side into the lead as he capitalized on a bad pass made by Ryan Hackett.
The intensity of the match was now at a higher level and three minutes later, Guyana drew level when substitute Chris Macey on the end of a good build up started by another sub, Ritch, tucked his shot past the advancing Holness in the 60th minute.
In an effort to build on that momentum, the Guyanese now had three forwards in Benjamin, Macey and Nicholas Mc Arthur. However, many moments of indecision, ineffective passes and lack of awareness worked against the Guyanese.
Too much space was given up at the back and one such occasion, a ripping shot from outside the area by Jabari Campbell resulted in the ball flying past the outstretched hands of Vaughn and rocketed into the nets off the cross bar whilst making its way back into play all at once.
Momentarily, there was some uncertainty if the ball had indeed gone over the line, but the officials in charge communicated on their headsets quickly and Referee Dujic Filip of Canada promptly blew his whistle and pointed to the center which meant that Cayman Islands had retaken the lead at 3-2.
The remaining moments saw Guyana creating more chances but just could not get it right in the attacking third, much to the disappointment of all. Now the focus would have to be on an opponent that is expected to be much tougher than Cayman Islands.
Next on the radar is Curacao tomorrow from 12:45hrs on Field 11. The team would be involved in a recovery session today and aim to get mentally ready for the task at hand tomorrow.

Cayman Islands GK Albertini Holness punches the ball away to nullify another Golden Jaguars effort late in the second half.

Golden Jaguar, Ryan Dowding (#20) wards off an opposing player during yesterday’s match at the IMG Academy.

Guyana’s U-20 starting X1 vs Cayman Islands.

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