Cape Verde needle Golden Jags in close encounter in FIFA Series
A second-minute goal scored by their opponents proved decisive in the fortunes of the Guyana senior men’s national football team, the Golden Jaguars, as they made their debut in the FIFA Series on Thursday afternoon in a game against Cape Verde, ranked 92 places above Guyana in FIFA.
The Golden Jaguars came away from the battle with heads justifiably held high, their opponents having won the encounter by a single goal, the scoreline reading 1-nil in Cape Verde’s favour.
This mature performance from the Golden Jaguars was recorded by a starting XI that read: Captain Daniel Wilson, Goal-keeper Quillian Roberts, and players Jeremy Garrett, Curtez Kellman, Colin Nelson, Elliott Bonds, Leo Lovell, Liam Gordon, Stephen Duke–McKenna, Deon Moore and Omari Glasgow.
Guyana’s Golden Jaguars lost to the much higher ranked Cape Verde by a single goal
The Golden Jaguars were caught off-guard when Cape Verde Captain Ryan Mendes received a service inside the box and quickly took the shot into the opposing corner of the goal for what would eventually become the game- winner.
Guyana’s keeper Quillian Roberts was almost superhuman in denying the African team on several occasions to keep the score at 1-0. One of his most impressive saves saw him get a hand to a shot from inside the goal and pushing it up onto the crossbar, from whence it ricocheted back into open play for the save.
Minutes later, on two occasions, Roberts found himself punching out shots that were made about five metres away from him, to keep Cape Verde at bay.
Guyana also had a handful of chances, but were unable to capitalize on any. From a corner, Garrett headed the ball squarely onto the feet of Bonds, who was unable to escape the goalkeeper’s hands with his shot; and later, Duke-McKenna had a long- range shot, but his strike went wide of the goal.
In the second segment, a build-up between Kadell Daniel and Glasgow got Guyana within metres of levelling the scores, but Daniel’s assist never quite reached Glasgow’s feet, as he slipped after getting past the opposing keeper.
The Golden Jaguars will play their second game of this FIFA Series in the March international window against Cambodia on March 26th. That game will also be held at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
