Puerto Rico defeated Anguilla 4 – 0 to setup a ‘winner take Group 5’ clash with Guyana at the Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium, Bayamon on Tuesday March 29, in the CFU Caribbean Cup.
Jorge Luis Rivera (40th minute), Juan Coca (16th and 52nd) and Olvin Cortez (61st minute) were Puerto Rico’s goal scorers in the win that have earned them a spot in Round Two of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) marquee event.
Guyana arrived in Puerto Rico on Saturday March 26, four days after their 7 – 0 demolition of Anguilla at the National Stadium, Providence.
The team held their first training session at the Bayamon Training facility and according to Assistant Coach Wayne Dover, the session lasted 90 minutes and “after the warm-up, which was 20 minutes, we did 20 minutes possession work then the main part – defensive organization – which lasted for 50 minutes then we concluded on ‘finishing’ for 20 minutes.”
However, while the training session was scheduled for two hours, it was cut short, according to reports, since the heat was too much for some of the over-seas based players.
Neil Danns (England), Samuel Cox (England), Walter Moore (Finland), Brandon Beresford (U.S.A), Christopher Nurse (Puerto Rico), Marcel Barrington (England) and Anthony Whyte (Canada) are the seven overseas-based players in Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz’s 18-man squad.
Alex Murray, Clive Nobrega, Dwight Peters, King Solomon Austin, Eon Alleyne, Vurlon Mills, Gregory Richardson, Devon Millington, Quincy Adams, Tischard Joseph and Quincy Adams are the other members of the Golden Jaguars team.
Training will recommence on Sunday, (March 27) at 17:00hrs and will focus on the technical aspects of the game including attack, transition and team organisation.
Round One of the CFU 2016 Scotiabank Men’s Caribbean Cup will conclude on March 29; Round Two will be held from June 1 – 7, Round 3 October 3 – 9, Fifth Place Playoff November 7 – 15 and the finals are scheduled for May 2017, with all games being played on FIFA International dates.
Among the other teams participating in the tournament are Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, St. Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, St. Maarten, United States Virgin Islands, Cuba, Bermuda, French Guiana, Barbados, Curacao, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Suriname, Martinique, British Virgin Islands and Dominica.
This will be the second meeting between Guyana and the United States territory, with the first being in 1993 Caribbean Cup which was then named the ‘Shell Cup’.
Guyana went down 2 – 0 at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Ground against Puerto Rico who secured the win with goals from Brian Conlon and Danny Mueller.
