As the Golden Jaguars wrap up preparation ahead of the maiden Concacaf Gold Cup appearance, Head Coach Micheal Johnson is reporting a positive spirit in the camp, despite coming out on the wrong side of the result in two International Friendlies within the past week.
In all fairness, the result was never top priority for Johnson, so losing 0-1 to Bermuda and then 1-3 to Haiti did not matter much to the Jaguars lead-man.
Speaking after the Haiti contest on Tuesday, Johnson said that it was a good exercise for his charges once again in high altitude condition, citing that each player got in some valuable competitive match time lending to a higher degree of fitness.
“Again you saw the progression and there’re lots of positives to take while there are areas that we have not which include defensive corners. The first goal was a penalty which was debatable and the second goal was from a corner; we’ll now tighten up as we go to our USA camp,” Johnson related.
“We’re in positive spirits, I’ve just reminded the players not to focus on the results, focused on what we tried to do, what worked, what we need tidying up on and there’re a lot of things that we can now move into this final stage with.”
Johnson shared that playing at high altitude is a lot more intense, but once you get back to normal sea level, it’s beneficial even though it was tough for some of the players to get through.
As the Jaguars head to Minneapolis today ahead of next Tuesday’s debut match against the USA, Johnson informed that the focus now would be on tidying up a couple of areas that they have cited with a view of being ready for the Gold Cup.
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.
The Gold Cup kicks off on Saturday (June 15) with a Group A double-header at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA from 16:30h when Canada oppose Martinique followed by Mexico against Cuba.
