Guyana’s senior men’s national football team saw their 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup dreams fade away on Tuesday night when they suffered a heart-wrenching 2-0 loss to hosts Guatemala.
Guyana’s starting XI for their away game against Guatemala on Tuesday night
At the Estadio Cementos Progresso in Guatemala City, interim Head Coach Wayne Dover opted for a starting XI that comprised Captain Daniel Wilson, Goalkeeper Quillan Roberts, Jalen Jones, Curtez Kellman, Reiss Grenidge, Liam Gordon, Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Elliott Bonds, Morgan Ferrier, Isaiah Jones, and Omari Glasgow.
A scene from Guyana’s clash with Guatemala (CONCACAF photos)
Heading into the game with a 3-2 aggregate in Guyana’s favour; Guatemala levelled up things early.
Rubio Mendez capitalised on a cross from Pedro Altan in front of the goal, ushering the ball over the line for Guatemala’s first strike in the 11th minute.
While the Golden Jaguars had their fair share of chances, each one went abegging as the half ended 1-0.
Another defensive blunder on Guyana’s part saw Altan provide another assist, this time to Erick Lemus in the 76th minute for Guatemala’s second goal.
In the aftermath of the loss, Dover dissected where his team went wrong, chalking the loss up to mistakes and not capitalising on their chances.
“It is tough to digest, to begin with. But we know playing at this level, it’s a slim margin and we have to prevent those things, because at this level mistakes will be punished and tonight what separate the two teams is the team that made the least mistakes and the team that convert their chances,” the interim Golden Jaguars Head Coach shared.
A scene from Guyana’s clash with Guatemala (CONCACAF photos)
He added, “Guatemala is a very good young team, play attractive football, but I’m proud that Guyana could have competed with them at this level and give them something to think about going forward, that the Caribbean have football players and have teams that can compete on that level.”
Discussing the way the game unfolded, Dover revealed how much Roberts’ 84th-minute red card affected the game.
He explained, “Like I said, Guatemala is a very good team and it would always be difficult playing a man short because they were pushing forward relentless, because they were coming from a goal down and you know, our players showed some exhaustion, but we tried to steady the ship. We made some changes to bring some fresh legs in to cover some ground. It became difficult to even create our own chances to get a goal or two and get back into the game once the red card occurred.”
The Golden Jaguars Coach later responded to inquiries about what Guyana needed to do to qualify for the Gold Cup in future.
“Firstly, we have to create a very deep squad of quality players and after doing that, we have to get the players to a level of fitness to compete at this level, because tonight, Guatemala proved a little fitter than us. Maybe the conditions, playing at altitude is a factor but definitely, they’re a fit team and we need to get to that level and compete and win games in a consistent way,” Dover shared with Guatemala media operatives.
The Golden Jaguars will now turn their attention to 2026 World Cup qualification, which resumes in June.
