Concacaf U-20 championship USA 2018 Dover backing GFF to build on potential of players with Project 100 & WC 2026 on the horizon

Nov 13, 2018 Sports

---

By Franklin Wilson
Following Guyana’s group stage exit from the Concacaf Under-20 championship USA 2018 at the IMG Academy, Beadenton, Florida on Saturday night last, Head Coach Wayne Dover is optimistic that the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) will build on the positives garnered from the tournament.
Guyana did not start on too much of a high note having lost to Guatemala 0-4 but the defeat was not frowned upon in a negative way given the fact that the team was short of quality practice games prior to travelling to the USA.
Another challenge was that the overseas based players and those based here did not have much time to gel as a unit, so the Technical Team had their work cut out to fast track cohesiveness in order to bring the desired results.
Yet another test the team had to work around was the scheduling of matches in the mid morning and mid day sun; the conditions were humid and taxing on the players but they stood up admirably.
Following the Guatemala loss, the Technical staff immediately sought to correct the weaknesses that were observed. The second match against Cayman Islands saw a improved show from the Guyanese even though they lost narrowly, 2-3. The next encounter against Curacao saw additional improvement despite Guyana going down 3-4.
Up to that point and with the final match against El Salvador looming, Dover said that they {Technical staff} continued to work on correcting areas of weakness; offensive and midfield play, in the main.
“We spent a lot of time practicing our offensive and midfield play with a view to create chances and win matches.”
The final group clash against El Salvador (the #1 seeded team and group winners) which was the only one for Guyana played under lights saw a renewed dynamism from the team which went on to outclass their opponents, 2-0 on the back of goals from Kelsey Benjamin and Captain, Jeremy Garrett.
Dover offered the view that the coolness of the Florida night was one of the positives that led to the historic win.
“I think one factor played out here in our favour was the time of the start, that cool atmosphere is what we are accustomed to play in. I think the earlier games in the 10 and 12

o’clock sun took its toll. This was our game time, if we had gotten at least two to three international friendly matches to work on strategies and see all the players, we could have at least done better and maybe qualify out of the group.”
Looking ahead, Dover said that a consorted effort is needed to build on what was seen in the championship especially with Project 100 and the FIFA 2020 World Cup being the focus of the federation.
“We have to spend time preparing this group of players given what we just saw what they can do and the caliber of players in this team. I would say to the GFF that we can work with this group closely going forward and use this group of players along with some who are within the age range for the U-20 Olympic Qualifiers and have multiple friendly matches throughout the preparations so we be better prepared as well as see some of these players making it into the senior team.”
This strategy Dover believes would see Guyana football attaining the heights that we are capable of realizing.
The experienced tactician also shared that the outcome was as a result of a total effort from all the relevant departments stating that his assistant coaches worked tirelessly giving strong views and holding firm to these views, which he admired.
“Because as you know, ever so often we are always pulling in different directions; when the coach makes the final decision the staff was united behind the coach. The GFF made its contribution based on the constraints and we worked with what we had.
We’re not a people that want to be a complaining people, we tried to work as much as we could with what we had and see what best we can make something happen out of it.”
The main ingredient in the mix, the players came in for high praise from Coach Dover: “I want to congratulate the players for their huge efforts. Many persons were critical of them on social media, they took a lot of blows from the coaches because we knew that they could have done better and we saw them delivering in the final game which was a big plus and I want to say to the GFF, keep this group and build as we go forward.”
The fans also came in for high praise from Dover for their committed support: “Some of them came from as much as four hours driving in some instances for every game regardless of the game times and they were very energetic in their support despite their small numbers. So we want to recognise their efforts. They also contributed to the team in many other ways including food and equipment. So it was good for them to enjoy that win against El Salvador.”

 

---

---