Junior lady Jags wrap up intense prep for U20 Championships

– Story and Photos by Jemima Holmes

Tomorrow, Guyana’s Under- 20- Women’s National team, the junior Lady Jags will face their biggest opponent to date; taking on the USA in their first match of the CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championships 2025.
Prior to their departure for Costa Rica, the team enjoyed a training camp in Guyana, where the management was able to fine- tune key aspects of their game ahead of the all- important assignment.
Guyana is in Group A of the Championships alongside USA, hosts Costa Rica and Puerto Rico and will need to secure a top- two spot in the group, in order to advance to the FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup.

Head Coach, Paul DeAbreu, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Times Sport, shared what the team was able to work on during their time in Guyana.
“You know, when we flew in, the weather was a little challenging sometimes but most of the sessions we got was hot and sunny. For the girls that’s coming internationally, the sun was a little bit tough on them, they’re a bit sore but overall, I think our preparation has been going well,” DeAbreu told this publication.
He continued, “We touched base on a lot of little things that we needed to prepare for and I think we’ve established what we had to do.”
Zeroing in on Monday’s practice match against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Women’s team, while DeAbreu was pleased with their showing the Coach pinpointed one crucial area that needed to be polished
DeAbreu explained, “So, we had three different line- ups. We went in with how we would play USA and how would we get prepared for the other two matches against Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. So, the first 30, we kinda like worked well with our defensive shape and we predicted that a lot of the balls would be over the top, our defense had to react to that. And overall, we did well for 30 minutes.”
“Preparing for the second 30, we switched out to a 4-3-3, which we got in behind the back four a lot of times. I think our final third is where we have to work on, finishing and third- man runs and things like that. We still have some work to do.”
On the other hand, midfielder Alexis Bayley shared similar sentiments as her head Coach while she spoke on the training camp.

Bayley shared, “So far, my experience has been very good. I think the biggest competition for me is the weather because I’m from Canada, I’m used to the cold and my body’s just not adjusted to the weather but we’ve had some great days. Our training camps have been very intense for us to prepare for our first game against the US so, overall, I’ve had a very good experience.”
“I thought the game went very well; we executed everything pretty much that our Coach told us to do. We were building out the back very well, the other team pressed us very well too so, just now getting ready for the US, Costa Rica and all the other teams we have to play,” the midfielder further stated about their practice match.
Reflecting on their historic win against Haiti (against whom the Lady Jags have a storied history) earlier this year, DeAbreu noted that it has been a confidence booster for his team which he is sure will do well in the upcoming competition.
The U20 Women’s Head Coach expressed, “For the girls, some of them have been there for the second round when we played Haiti and we lost and this round that we played and we won, it was really achieving for us. We were coming off of a good training session in Antigua, I think that helped us to beat Haiti, Haiti was a very good team.”

“Now, we’re coming into the next round with a bit more confidence, if the ball goes our way, you know, we get some luck. I think we can go through but football is a nasty sport, slightest thing you could be behind 1-0 and you got to fight your way back in but I’m confident with this team, I really am. The girls are confident going forward.”
Also prior to the team’s departure, the Lady Jags were paid a visit, during training, by President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Tuesday who wished them well in their upcoming campaign.
Guyana will take on USA on Friday at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Costa Rica for the tournament opener. They will go on to battle the hosts Costa Rica and Puerto Rico on Sunday, June 1 and Tuesday June 3 respectively.