Scenes from the Golden Jaguars’ clash with the Soca Warriors on Wednesday night (TTFA Photos)
It was another tough day at the office for Guyana’s senior men’s national football team, the Golden Jaguars, as they went down to Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors again, this time by a 2-0 margin.
However, in spite of the back-to-back losses for the local players- dominated National team, Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz is adamant that there were many positive takeaways for the group, even in low moments.
The story on Wednesday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port- of- Spain, Trinidad and Tobago began with a number of changes to the starting XI, which read: Captain Daniel Wilson, Goalkeeper Jamaine Cumberbatch, Leo Lovell, Quincy Adams, Kevin Layne, Terique Mohammed, Darron Niles, Anthony Smith, Kelsey Benjamin, Curtez Kellman and Nicholai Andrews.
Admittedly, the Golden Jaguars did well in the first 45 minutes to keep a leash on the Soca Warriors, but, like their opponents, they missed out on crucial goalscoring opportunities throughout that period.
One such opportunity was witnessed when Kelsey Benjamin fed a good pass to Darron Niles inside the box. Niles followed up by outfoxing the Trinidadian defence, but his premature shot to goal was intercepted by the Soca Warriors’ keeper Denzil Smith.
Then in the second half, Trinidad’s Michel Poon-Angeron broke the ice after a wayward clearance away from the Guyanese goal failed to make it past the parameters of the 18-yard area. Poon-Angeron took a few steps to get closer, and almost instantaneously sent the shot right back in for their first strike, in the 53rd.
More than 20 minutes later, Trinidad’s Kevon ‘Showtime’ Woodley continued his debut series on a high note by netting their second goal, in the 77th. Ezekiel Kezar took one of Guyana’s defenders off his feet to drive into the box, where he made a soft pass to ‘Showtime’, who needed only to tap the ball into the net behind Cumberbatch’s back.
Guyana had another opportunity to score in the second half, but similarly to Niles, Simeon Moore’s shot was deflected off the keeper and out of harm’s way.
In the aftermath, Golden Jaguars Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz expressed his gratitude for the lessons his players have been able to learn from the loss.
“When you look at tonight, what went wrong, I think the opportunity that the opportunity was a fine one for the players for our league in Guyana to get this exposure. We gave away two gifts of a goal, but that in itself is a lesson for us: that in this level of the game, the margin for error is very small. You get punished,” Shabazz expressed in responding to SportsMax.
He added, “Maybe in the league at home in Guyana you may not get punished for those errors, but it was good a lesson for us in this game.”
Addressing the two chances that went abegging, Shabazz noted that he was more impressed with the creation of those chances under pressure.
On the topic of finishing, Shabazz said, “Well, our finishing could’ve been better. Again, the learning curve to understand when you play a premium on clinical accuracy or when you go for power, that composure to know how much time and space, I think these youngsters will benefit from that tonight, when they look back at that game and saw the time and the space that they had, where they could’ve picked their spot.”
“But I was happy that the chance was created. You know, not happy that it was not scored, but extremely happy that even down two goals, we were able to continue to play and create chances,” the Golden Jaguars Head Coach shared.
The Golden Jaguars will now turn their attention to the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, their campaign for which begins on June 6 against Panama in Panama City. They will come up against Belize next on June 11 at a yet- to-be-confirmed venue.
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