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Haiti settles Guyana to command Group B
2022/23 Concacaf Nations League…
Equipped with a handful of boisterous spectators and the experience to effectively capitalise on opportunities presented, Haiti brushed aside a seemingly hapless Guyanese squad to claim control of Group B.
Golden Jaguars’ Trayon Bobb was spot on in every aspect of his game against Haiti.
Playing at the Leonora Track and Field Facility in the League B encounter, Haiti secured their 3-points from a 2 – 6 drubbing to move on to seven points, overtaking Guyana, whose six points has them in second.
Haiti were led by a double from Derrick Etienne Jr, but it was an all-round team effort from the Haitians with goals being scored by Dany Jean (4’), Steven Saba (9’), Carney Antoine (38’) and substitute, Fredler Christophe (80’).
Guyana’s two goals were scored by Emery Welshman (11’) and Nathan Moriah-Welsh (44’).
The Golden Jaguars faced an entirely different class of opponent yesterday, but what was immediately noticeable was Guyana’s starting XI that excluded the team’s best defender, Quincy Adams, and midfielder Stephan Duke-McKenna.
Emery Welshman unleashed the shot which canceled the opposition’s chance of a clean sheet.
The match started with the Haitian offence exposing the centre back, Matthew Briggs, who opened instead of Adams. That led to Jean drawing first blood in the fourth minute before Sada took the same route to make it a two-possession game.
Two minutes later Guyana were able to put together crucial passes near the opposition’s 18-yard box and pull one back with a shot off Welshman’s boot.
A few moments later Welshman squandered the chance to equalize after putting too much flare on an attempted bicycle kick during a goal mouth scrimmage. The forward had enough time to control the ball before his attempt but Guyana’s communication on the field throughout the match was little to none at warranted scenarios. There wasn’t much support from players near goal either.
However, Haiti kept their foot on the gas even though snippets of Guyana’s chances resulted in an often break in their defence. Antoine added a bit more misery to the list for the host team when Antoine took the score to 1 – 3.
Omari Glasgow had an admirable performance but was unable to add to his goal tally on Saturday.
At that moment it would have been an excellent chance for Jaguars head coach, Jamaal Shabazz, to try a substitute or two where players were lacking but the substitutions took place for the second 45 minutes.
What followed was Etienne Jr. penetrating twice in quick succession to poise the match at 1 – 5 with the half time whistle approaching. On the brink of half-time, Moriah-Welsh scored much to the delight of the Guyanese spectators, who only had cheers of encouragement for Guyana when they had possession near goal.
Once Adams was in for Briggs, his impact was instantaneous, although his movements were clearly not fluent.
Only one goal was added to the board in the second half which has its share of spills and thrills along with some questionable calls by the referee. Jaguars’ Daniel Wilson also had a ragged performance with indecisive plays that led to a lot of Haitian counterattacks.
Football passion personified; the Haitian supporters stood for the entirety of the match cheering their team.
The most enjoyable aspect of the game was to observe a team that has played among the highest of competitors in the Concacaf Nations League.
Guyana now has more knowledge and experience from playing the former League A team and will be looking to capitalise on that aspect when the two sides clash in Guyana’s away encounter on Tuesday, June 14, in the Dominican Republic.
That is another decisive match in the battle for the top spot between the Group’s front runners. Guyana still have a chance to top the Group if the return match has a favourable result.
Meanwhile, Bermuda played Montserrat last night from 19:30 hrs with the two teams entering the match on two points and no points, respectively.
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