With the majority of players already on the island of Bermuda where Guyana’s flagship senior team, the ‘Golden Jaguars’ has set up the first leg of their camp ahead of the historic appearance at the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup, the team enjoyed a light training session on Monday.
Under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Michael Johnson and his Technical Staff, the session was held during the mid-afternoon period at the Bermuda’s National Sports Center.
Speaking with GFF Media after the session, Johnson said that there is a lot of excitement in the camp and the first day of training always has to be careful since players might tend to overdo it so it is their job to calm them down, noting that it is natural.
“Players want to impress and also stamp their authority on the training session on the opening day but obviously that would calm down as they get to know each other and learn more of the technical and tactical of what we expect them to do in and out of possession.”
He alluded to the fact that this is a big tournament for Guyana and one of historic proportions, reminding that this will be the country’s debut at the highest level in the Confederation.
Thursday’s friendly against Bermuda, Johnson posited, is well-timed and would certainly have technical folks from Panama, USA and Trinidad and Tobago observing the match for clues on Guyana, be it style of play or personnel, which means that he and team would have to be smart in their approach to this match as well as the Haiti game in Costa Rica, next week.
“So with that in mind, for me it’s not about the result as such, it’s about principles that we want to see, players trying their best, working hard, enjoying possession of the football rather than the technical and tactical side of things which would come in time for the US game.”
Guyana has been drawn in Group D of the Concacaf Gold Cup and will play hosts USA on June 18 in Minneapolis, Panama on June 22 in Cleveland and Trinidad and Tobago in Kansas City on June 26.
