Guyana to fight against odds with two new faces
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
November 23, 2003
GUYANA have no less than a miraculous task, today, to beat Costa Rica 8-0 to qualify for the CONCACAF final of the Olympic qualifying championships.
The local team will have to face the goal-hungry Alvaro Saborio without key defenders Walter Moore and Orlando Jilgeous, both out of the return match at the Blairmont Community Centre ground from 15:00 hrs.
Moore and Jilgeous who have been starters in all four matches to date, were victims of two yellow cards, Moore in the first leg against Costa Rica and Jilgeous in the return leg against Barbados and the Costa Rica encounter.
Soborio told Chronicle Sport yesterday that he was the leading scorer in his country’s Premier Professional League championships, blasting some 17 goals for club Saprissa so far for the year.
The 21-year-old, also, to date has eight Olympic goals in this current series, hitting a helmet trick against Guyana in the first leg on November 15 in Costa Rica.
But Technical Director Neider Dos Santos told Chronicle Sport that despite the odds, all teams look for victory.
“If we are able to win Costa Rica by any results, it would be a fantastic result. It will not be easy. It will be a very hard match, but we have to try to play better than we did in Costa Rica and get a better result,” Dos Santos said.
Dos Santos acknowledged that Moore and Jilgeous were key players who were starters from the beginning.
“But that’s why we have 26 players, to make replacements. It is not an ideal situation without them (Moore and Jilgeous), but I trust that the players who replaced them would do a good job,” Dos Santos said.
Dos Santos recalled that Guyana had three clear scoring opportunities in the first leg, one when the match was nil-all, which Devon Millington put outside the upright. Again, Millington had a chance just after the 2-0 mark but remarkable goal-keeping prevented the goal. Then early in the second half, with the score margin still 2-0, Gregory Richardson faced the goalkeeper alone and the chance was saved.
“The goalkeeper saved brilliantly. It was unbelievable,” Dos Santos said, adding: “I’m sure if we had scored one of those three chances, the match would have been very much different.”
Dos Santos pointed out that the last three goals came after the team was reduced to ten men.
Now the team would be looking for early goals and make full use of the home advantage.
“We know the ground better than they,” Dos Santos said.
The technical director detected a weakness in the centre of the Costa Rican defence, through which Millington had gotten past in his attempts for goal.
Dos Santos is urging all Guyanese to head to Blairmont to support the local team, more so with the uphill task ahead.
“I am looking forward to a big crowd to support the boys. What they have done so far, they deserve huge support,” Dos Santos declared.
And power midfielder Jonathan Peters will be back in the team, having recovered from injury that ruled him out of the Costa Rica tour.
Also, Elton Browne is back from injury and Dos Santos will have a full complement of strikers.
The team will have two new faces, Kurt Bristol who will start and Daxton Parks in the reserve.
Guyana’s starting eleven are: goalkeeper Fidel Smith, defenders Travis Waterton, Kelvin McKenzie, Sherwin Cadogan and Kurt Bristol; midfielders Dirk Archer, Shawn Beveney (captain), Jonathan Peters and Emerick Williams; strikers Gregory Richardson and Devon Millington.
The reserves: Andrew Durant (goalkeeper), Daxton Park, Kester Alleyne, Jerome Richardson, Travis Grant, Dwight Peters and Elton Browne.
Costa Rica team will come from: Adrian De Lemus, Patrick Pemberton, Roy Myrie, Pablo Salazar, Michel Umana, Cristian Montero, Junior Diaz, Carlos Hernandez, Jose Lopez, Daniel Vallejos, Berny Scott, Jairo Arrieta, Pablo Brenes, Leonardo Araya, Erick Scott, Randall Azofeifa, Alvaro Saborio, Ulises Morera, Warren Granados and Michael Rodriguez.
Rodrigo Kenton Johnson is the coach, with assistant Manuel Urena and manager Frank Rojas.
The officiating team from St Lucia comprises: referee Alexander Williams, assistant referees Julios Gabriel and Maurinus Marc, and fourth official Anthony La Forte.