The National Men’s Under-20 team got a rude awakening to competing at the top level when they were thumped 0-4 by Guatemala in their opening match of the Concacaf championships being staged at the IMG Academy, Florida.
The local-based players spent six weeks preparing, mainly two hours every afternoon, and while nerves were clearly a factor, the reality is they were outplayed.
Guatemala U-20s are ranked eight by Concacaf as compared to Guyana’s 24th spot. The gulf between the two teams widened when the Guyanese produced a listless defensive stance, with the center and wing backs being drawn out of position by some pacey and nimble forwards.
In the first half, the Latin America unit controlled 80% of the ball and surprisingly, it took until the 45th minute for captain Rudy Barrientos to score.
The captain got good service from the right winger and who drew the defence wide and all remained was for a sliding finish against the outstretched Johnathan Vaughn.
In the second half, it was a procession, with Jose Ardon (53rd), Nery Cifuentes (63rd) and Oscar Santis (72nd) etching their names on the score sheet.
Guyana will clash with the Cayman Islands on November 6, and will then face Curacao on November 8 before closing their group stage against El Salvador on November 10.
Head Coach, Wayne Dover in a comment on social media after the match stated, “Spirited effort by the lads today in the game against Guatemala! The score line read heavy, the effort was much more heavier. Point to note, we came up against one of the heavy weigh(s) in Concacaf and held them for 44 minutes 0-0 before we conceded the first of four goals. This to me as the coach is encouraging given the fact we had one session with the full squad before the game. Thank you very much lads for the effort. It could (have) been worse.”
The competition will determine the four Concacaf representatives at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland and will also determine the Concacaf teams playing at the 2019 Pan American Games Men’s football tournament in Lima.
See below more photos of today’s match. (Photos sourced from Concacaf’s Facebook page)
