CONCACAF Nations League 2023/2024: Golden Jaguars begin CNL with commanding 5-1 victory

A first senior hattrick on the international stage for 19-year-old Omari Glasgow, on Saturday afternoon as Guyana opened her campaign in the CONCACAF Nations League 2023/2024, has led to the Golden Jaguars recording an emphatic 5-1 whipping of Antigua and Barbuda in their own backyard in the opening encounter of both teams.
Glasgow was the shining star, but Kelsey Benjamin was not to be left out, as he registered a clinical brace.
The game was played at the ABFA Technical Center in Antigua and Barbuda, and the Jaguars’ Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz opted for a starting lineup that boasted a majority of locally-based players. Thus Goal-keeper Quillian Roberts, Captain Daniel Wilson, Rishaun Ritch, Curtez Kellman, Jalen Jones, Jeremy Garrett, Liam Gordon, Elliott Bonds, Omari Glasgow, Stephen Duke McKenna and Kelsey Benjamin took to the field.
Within 14 minutes of play, Guyana was discomfiting the opposition, compliments of the teenaged Glasgow. He keenly hunted down a back-pass from one of the Antiguan defenders, and finding goalkeeper Zaieem Scott no match for his skills, easily won possession and calmly led the ball into the back of the net.
Fifteen minutes later, Glasgow made it a 2-0 game by capitalising on a penalty opportunity which went the Golden Jaguars’ way by virtue of a handled ball in the net.
And as the Jaguars’ defense kept things tight at the back, Kelsey Benjamin joined the scoring party in the 33rd minute by firing a shot across the face of the net.
The home side managed to pull one back before the first half expired when marksman Raheem Deterville’s perfectly executed shot from the top corner of the box found the back of the net in the 45th.
That solitary response did little to dampen the spirit of the ravening Jaguars, as they came out with all guns blazing in the second segment and were finally rewarded in the 62nd, when a long ball forward from Jeremy Garrett fell at the feet of Benjamin. Benjamin did well to outrun the defense, and outfoxed the keeper in tucking the ball into the corner of the net for Guyana’s 4th goal.
In the 87th minute, Glasgow added insult to injury when he cut in from outside of the box to execute what by now should be considered his signature shot: bending the ball into the corner of the nets.
With a first victory in hand, the Golden Jaguars will now return to the Land of Many Waters for their second CNL 2023/2024 game, against the Bahamas at home. The encounter is set for the National Track and Field Center (NTFC) at Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD) on Tuesday September 12th from 18:00hrs. (Jemima Holmes)