Golden Jaguars one win away from Gold Cup berth

Jun 20, 2023 Sports

Kaieteur Sports – A mouthwatering encounter at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale awaits football fans in the CONCACAF region as the Golden Jaguars take aim at Guadeloupe today, where the winner will advance to the group stage of the Gold Cup.

Guadeloupe was the most impressive-looking team on the field during the opening round, soaring past Antigua and Barbuda with a 5-0 victory. Guyana, on the other hand, battled tooth and nail to edge past Grenada in a penalty shootout.

Guadeloupe received goals from five different players and controlled their match from start to finish. Matthias Phaeton didn’t get his goal until the 93rd minute but was excellent off the bench and notched an assist as well.

Les Gwada Boys are now looking to advance to the group stage for the fifth time, and second consecutive time.

Jalen Jones (#5) stood tall for Guyana in their win against Grenada and would look to do so today.

Omari Glasgow scored the big goal for Guyana in their win, a thunderous bouncer from well outside the penalty area.

Goalkeeper, Kai McKenzie-Lyle was solid in goal and made a huge save in the penalty shootout to give the Golden Jaguars the edge.

Elliot Bonds was critical for Guyana in defence.

Coach Wayne Dover, though soaking in the victory, said his main area of concern is ensuring that the team capitalizes on their goal-scoring opportunities, telling reporters yesterday, “We haven’t scored a lot of goals and we had a few chances that we didn’t convert.”

Guyana will look for more reasons to celebrate this afternoon. (Concacaf)

“We want to improve on our goalscoring because I think that is something that has plagued us for the past couple of games,” Dover said.

A win for Guyana would send them to the group stage for just the second time ever, following an appearance in 2019 when they finished third in their group.

The winner of this match will be placed into Group D alongside Canada, Guatemala, and Cuba.