Despite going down 4 – 2 to Georgetown’s U-17 team in a scrimmage earlier today, Head Coach of the Senior Women’s National team Mark Rodrigues said that he’s happy all of the objectives of the game were met as the team heightens preparation for the CFU Olympic Qualifiers next month.
Donna Joseph (left) and Ashlee Savona
Guyana will face off against St Kitts and Nevis (August 21) and Cuba (August 23) in Group Four of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) leg of the qualifiers in the Dominican Republic.
Playing at the Leonora Track and Field and Football Facility, the ‘Lady Jags’ found the net through Ashlee Savona and Donna Joseph while the men from the ‘city’ were guided to victory by Kelsey Benjamin hat-trick and a lone strike from Jermaine Scott Jr.
“The game was actually very good. I’m surprised at how much they’ve gotten out of the limited practice they’ve had and tactical response of the team” said Rodrigues.
The game kicked off at 15:00 hours under the sweltering heat at the recently built facility on the West Coast of Demerara; a deliberate move by Coach Rodrigues since the games against St Kitts and Nevis and Cuba will be played under similar conditions.
Rodrigues pointed out that “you could see a lot of moments of brilliance and then lapses and if we could just connect it all. We’ve been very good in our defensive area and playing as a unit but we collapse a little”
The result of the game was secondary on team’s agenda for the match, since the coach made it clear that “the primary objective was to establish a system of play and everybody’s role on the team and of that, today I think we’ve achieved that objective and we’ve just now have to sharpen up”.
On Friday, at the same venue, the Lady Jags will come up against three times defending Champions of the Digicel School Football tournament, Christianburg Wismar Secondary.