CONCACAF Women’s Qualifiers: Coach Joseph “pleased” with Lady Jags’ campaign thus far

Guyana’s Senior Women’s Football team, the Lady Jags, are currently on a high, after two consecutive wins in the CONCACAF Women’s Qualifiers; but the work is not done yet, since the Guyanese ladies still have a higher mountain to climb before making it to the CONCACAF Women’s Championships.

Guyana was drawn in Group F, alongside longtime rivals Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Dominica and Nicaragua. Of that Group, Guyana overcame Dominica 4-0 at home on February 16 and later Turks and Caicos 7-0 on February 19.
Head Coach of the Lady Jags, Dr. Ivan Joseph, on Saturday shared his thoughts on the opening performances from the Guyanese ladies, noting that he and the team are ‘really pleased’, but not quite satisfied as yet.
“We’re not satisfied, but we’re pleased. And what I mean by that is, the main objective was to make sure that we came away in a position that we were still eligible and able to compete for first place in our pool; and from that perspective, mission accomplished,” Dr. Joseph said during a virtual engagement with Guyanese sports journalists on Saturday morning.

During those first two games, Guyana had the luxury of mixing and matching their team, with an artillery of capable players at their fingertips. Coach Joseph reflected on his decision to play two different starting XIs against Dominica and Turks and Caicos, noting that it was relieving.
“It’s been a long time since we had a full team play, so we had a lot of players to evaluate and assess,” the Lady Jags Head Coach commented.
He went on to say about the group of 36 players that were available, “That’s telling you we haven’t seen enough of our players, we haven’t been able to assess our players with enough detail to really put them in a position where their strengths will shine.”
While it may appear as though Dr. Joseph is just merely pleased with the wins Guyana was able to pull off, he was more than fascinated with the local players on show. On this topic, he shared, “The domestic players that make up our national team, wow, did they come to play? Annalisa Vincent amongst them. She was exceptional in her performance, her opening goal, she figured in that goal, the hustle that she created, lots of opportunities.”
Even more so, he found the mixture of experience and youth in Guyana’s lineup to be refreshing, especially with regard to the future of the Lady Jags team.
“To find that right mix of veteran presence and youthful exuberance and fresh legs, those are key things,” Dr. Joseph commented.
Next month, Guyana will play their final two group games, against Nicaragua (April 8) at home, and against Trinidad and Tobago (April 12) in the twin-island Republic. Looking at the task ahead, the Head Coach is focused on the tactical aspects of team building in order for the Lady Jags to advance.
He has said, “We now need to figure out what tactical formation we need to play that allows us to put our best players on the field, and that’s not an easy task. We’re still not quite there yet, but we continue to make progress in that direction.”
For the CONCACAF Women’s Qualifiers, the top finisher in each group would move on to the Championships in July, where direct spots in the Paris 2024 Olympics and CONCACAF’s Gold Cup are up for grabs. (Jemima Holmes)