Lady Jags roam to top of table, Coach impressed with opening victory

Feb 18, 2022 Sports

CONCACF ‘W’ Championship…

Following Guyana’s confidence boosting triumph in their opening match of the CONCACAF ‘W’ Championship against Dominica, the Lady Jags have taken control of Group F with the first three points.

Lady Jaguars’ head coach Dr. Ivan Joseph

Leonora was the venue where the action unfolded as Guyana’s senior women’s football team won 4 – 0 against the visitors.
Shortly after the final whistle was blown, the media had an opportunity to speak with a seemingly satisfied head coach, Dr. Ivan Joseph.
On his thoughts about the victorious commencement to the tournament, he said: “I’m grateful for the performance the team put out there. Dominica was a tough opponent, they came really hard at us and today the ball bounced our way a few times, so, it’s on to the next game now.”
Touching lightly on the technical aspect of their gameplay on the night, the coach stated, “I thought we worked on our four days; we worked on some things, we worked on some plays during the flank, we worked on making sure our shape was tight, and so, from a tactical point of view, we were pretty sharp.”
“You know, we always like to execute a little better than we did, but I thought we made a lot of our goalscoring opportunities count, and so, when you put the early ones away it opens up the game and allows you to have the freedom to play. I was really happy with the way we played especially in the centre of the park.”
With the win in the bag, the squad now moves on to face Turks and Caicos on Saturday at the Turks and Caicos Island Football Association (TCIFA) Academy from 20:00 hrs.
Dr. Joseph further disclosed that it’s quite a tight travelling schedule for the team since they left at 2am on Thursday, just hours after the opening match against Dominica.
“We’ve got three hours sleep; we leave at two in the morning but we don’t get in Turks and Caicos ‘til’ Friday night at seven o’clock. We got to turn around and play a game in less than 24 hours. We’re going to have our work cut out for us. We’re going to have heavy legs, we’re going to have tired legs, so Turks and Caicos can’t be understated how tough that match is going to be.”
On Wednesday night, Shanice Alfred, Annalisa Vincent and Sydney Cummings all scored once in the first half for Guyana before Brianne Desa accounted for the final goal in the second half.
The head coach was also extremely proud of young Vincent’s performance. He said, “Since Puerto Rico I can see her she’s elevated her game. She scored her first goal there. She scored her second one there. We pulled her off early in the game because we’re going to need her in Turks. We want to make sure her legs are well rested. She did exactly what she was supposed to do. She was a terror on the offence. She harassed them defensively to create turnovers. You know what, she is just starting to blossom now and we’re ‘gonna’ see a lot more of her name and the newsprint.”
On Thursday, the second Group F encounter unfolded between Trinidad and Tobago and Nicaragua as the twin-island republic claimed a 2 – 1 victory at home to move up to second in the Group.