Indoor Hockey Masters World Cup 2024: Guyana creates history in securing silver

Team Guyana created history on April 1st, 2024 when they secured the silver medal in the Men’s Over-45 division of the 2024 Indoor Hockey Masters World Cup.
After an incredible unbeaten run in both the pool and semifinal rounds, the Guyanese fell just shy of securing gold when they lost, for the very first time in the tournament, by one goal in a rematch against hosts England.
The previously unknown South Americans, who were making their debut at the Masters World Cup, had defeated Canada, England, Wales and France to secure their well-deserved spot in the final. And eight minutes into that high-paced final, striker Devin Hooper stunned the English crowd by slamming home the opening goal of the match for Guyana.
The speedy Hooper received the ball on the left, dribbled it across the English circle to outpace his marker, then finished with a swift shot into the English net.
The second quarter turned out to be an all-England affair, as striker Andy Langlands managed to catapult England ahead with a pair of identical penalty corners in the 14th and 19th minutes.
After having two penalty corners denied by the advancing Guyanese goalkeeper Gregory Garraway, the English resorted to making two swift passes around the left to get around Garraway to score their very next goal. This exact routine was repeated just before the half, to give England a 2-1 halftime lead.

Determined not to fade, the Guyanese pressed on through a hard-fought third quarter, which remained scoreless, leaving just one final quarter of ten minutes to make up the one-goal deficit. That final quarter became a shooting match between Guyanese Dwayne Scott and Englishman Langlands, as the two became the only players to score for the remainder of the match.
The score was at 2-1 in favour of England, but Scott evened the score at 2-2 through a well-placed penalty stroke one minute into the final quarter. And Scott returned four minutes later to drive Guyana ahead when he latched onto the end of a clinical Jerazeno Bell pass to redirect the ball into the English goal.
With four minutes remaining in the match, Guyana earned a critical penalty corner which provided them an opportunity to extend their lead. As the English focused primarily on Guyanese prolific penalty corner striker Jerazeno Bell, the Guyanese opted to redirect the ball to Scott, who slammed home a rocket of a shot to give Guyana a comfortable two-goal cushion at 4-2.
What followed were perhaps the most exciting four minutes of the entire tournament, especially for the English fans. England showed their experience and character by clawing back into the match when their backs were against the wall and time was heavily against them. Andy Langlands repeated his feat of scoring in the 37th minute from a penalty corner, which was the third goal of the match completed in exactly the same manner. The Guyanese failed to make the necessary adjustments, being concerned by the lay-off shooter, leaving the goal exposed for the second England pass to the left.
The hero for England, Langlands, made his mark again just one minute later when a defence error allowed a free pass to him across the Guyanese scoring circle. The in-form Langlands slammed how an equalizer to bring the almost entirely British crowd to their feet.
With the clock running down, and mere seconds remaining in the match, midfielder Devin Munroe received a yellow card which relegated him to the sin bin for 3 minutes. As a stunned Munroe left the floor, the wily English made a quick restart, catching the Guyanese off-guard. The quick penetrating pass by the British into the scoring circle to Langlands seemed to slow time as the bewildered Guyanese found themselves too late in recovering and watched Langlands’ shot excite the goal net and the British crowd as the clock ticked down the last few seconds of the game.
The final 5-4 score for England ended a wildly entertaining and very competitive final with jubilation for England and bitter disappointment for the stunned Guyanese.
Sport can be as bitter as it can be sweet, and there can never be one without the other. The Guyanese gave their best, but succumbed to a quality and experienced team, which was better in the last four minutes of the match, which counted the most.
President of the Guyana Hockey Board, Philip Fernandes, commented that he was very proud of what the team was able to achieve. Fernandes indicated that the primary objective of the Guyanese team was to make the semifinal, and while the gold medal is always the ultimate goal, the Guyanese dared not carry that expectation coming into a world-class event for the very first time.
“Guyana has made a name for itself in the international hockey community,” Fernandes has said. “So many teams approached us after the finals, asking about hockey in Guyana and inviting us to participate all over the world. Everyone wanted a piece of memorabilia from Guyana.”
The Masters Indoor World Cup takes place every two years, and so the Guyanese now have a clear target, and will regroup to make plans for the gold next time around.