“I want to dominate” – Dooley ahead of Dominica clash

Guyana’s senior men’s national football team, the Golden Jaguars, will be back in action this afternoon, battling Dominica in the first of two friendly matches in the ongoing CONCACAF Series.
As the team gear up for battle, Head Coach Thomas Dooley is looking to maintain their thus-far unbeaten streak in the Friendly series, having defeated Bonaire and Antigua and Barbuda, 2-1 and 4-1 respectively, in their last two games, back in November.

Keen on keeping a clean sheet, Dooley outlined his objectives for Guyana’s defence.
“It’s another step, the first two games obviously we won both games, it was the minimum that we would like to achieve. The second part was that we would like to have no goal against us, we didn’t do that in the first two games and it will be the main focus in the next two games. We don’t want to get scored on, so, we need to get that as a burden on the defenders, to be a little more focused on individual mistakes and don’t allow, to give the opponents a chance to score. That is always the premise of defence,” Dooley told Guyana Times Sport.
The Head Coach emphasised, “90 minutes, no mistakes in the back that leads to a goal, because we want to have a clean sheet. That is our main focus.”
Turning his attention to the offence, Dooley was especially passionate about seeing production from the forwards.

He explained, “Offensively, obviously we need to score goals. We did that great in the last game against Antigua when we scored four, we could’ve scored more, but it wasn’t the same against Bonaire. Bonaire was a little surprise for everyone, because they had some players in there, they were actually pretty good, better than the ones we saw in the pre-game.
“I don’t need a forward upfront who can’t score. A forward who can’t score is not a forward, he plays maybe midfield or try to play in right-back, left- back or something like that, but if you can’t score, or be dangerous upfront you’re not a forward. They’re, hopefully, a lot of forwards out there who can score, that we bring in and say ‘okay, now’s your chance, play 20 minutes and score a goal’, that’s what you need to do,” Dooley went on to opine.
Zeroing in on Dominica, who is ranked 29th in CONCACAF as compared to Guyana’s 17th, the gaffer listed dominance as a non-negotiable in today’s game.
Dooley expressed, “Obviously, the game against Dominica should be a one-sided game, that’s what I expect the players to play with confidence, not overconfidence but with the confidence that they should have, to go in a game like that and show it. That means we need to have a clean sheet and scoring goals, as many as we can.
“I want to dominate the game. I want to keep possession, I want to create chances and scoring goals, that’s the premise. In the first game, we want to push, pressing a little bit and don’t let them come out; it doesn’t always work, I hope it’s going to work. So, we need to learn how we’re going to keep those guys in their half and create an opportunity.”
All in all, the Golden Jaguars Head Coach is confident his team can pull it all together for the upcoming contest.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to win those two games, but I want to be confident to know that I can trust them to play with a clean sheet. So, that’s the most important thing, if we play against teams that are in the ranking behind us, we need to show why we are in front of them, why we are better in the rankings than they are and that doesn’t go to talking, that goes to playing,” Dooley shared.
“In the last couple years, we got way too many easy goals against us and that shows only that the guys were not concentrated enough,” he said, reiterating his desire to come away with a clean sheet.
Guyana will take on Dominica at 15:00h today, Friday, March 27 at the Estadio Cibao in Santiago, Dominican Republic.