Perfecting basics key to Dooley’s preparations with National U20s

A third National Junior CONCACAF Qualifying tournament in recent weeks is set to unfold soon, this time with the National Under-20 Men’s team billed for action in Curaçao.
The Junior Jaguars have been drawn in Group D of the competition and will take on the hosts in their first match next Tuesday. They are grouped alongside Haiti, Curaçao, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Anguilla.
As preparation intensifies ahead of the competition, senior national head coach Thomas Dooley, who has taken on the role for the U20s, has admitted that building a strong team mentality will be crucial.

“Obviously, we’re the underdogs. We have also four players coming only like two, three days before we go to Curaçao. Then we have only 13-14 players; we still have 1 or 2 injuries. So, it’s kind of not as perfect as it should be, but it is still some time to work on the fourth pillar, the mentality. So, the attitude, fighting, working for each other, building a team where everybody helps each other – this is sometimes more important than all the other pillars,” Dooley expressed.
During his exclusive chat with the Guyana Times Sport, the gaffer went on to identify “perfecting the basics” as one of his key focus areas.
Dooley responded to this publication’s enquiries, “Basics. If you want to play successful football, you need to have the basics almost professional; that’s what you learn when you’re young ‘til 16 – 17 years of age. They’re adults, 17, 18, 19 years old, and they should be in a higher level, obviously. That was a little bit challenging, so I had to go back to starting with basics of understanding the football.”
“Those four pillars – technique, tactics, fitness and mentality – are so important. Without the technique, you cannot play; you can’t pass and receive the ball. Obviously, the ball is gone, and then you have to chase, and I don’t like to chase the ball; I like to play football,” he added.
Citing his team’s performance in recent practice matches, Dooley also emphasised the importance of maintaining a competitive spirit in training and in competition.
“The basics in professional football is missing; in so short of a time, we have to put that in their mind. You cannot train with always stepping back, and in the fight on the weekend, you do everything that is necessary to win the game. It’s like being a torero, and you go with the big bulls and big horns coming at you, and you fight against them. They need to train for that, and they’re not going to the indoor doing a ballerina training session, and then they’re going out to a bullfight. It’s not going to happen,” the head coach illustrated.
Dooley continued, “You have to fight in training like you fight in a game; if you’re holding back in training, you’re holding back in the game. It’s not like you can switch immediately because there’s no pill you can take and you understand everything. It’s all training because the brain is a muscle you have to train like physical parts.”
“That is something that’s missing, and what I’m trying to implement in every training session, talk to them about it. Everything you do, it’s about thinking, forward thinking two to three seconds ahead, scanning the field.”
The Junior Jaguars are set to depart for Curaçao on Sunday, February 22, ahead of their Tuesday, February 24 opening clash with Curaçao.
The National U20 team will need to finish at the top of their group in order to advance to the CONCACAF U20 championships later this year.
With 6 groups in the CONCACAF Qualifiers competition, only the group winners will move on to the 2026 CONCACAF U20 Championships. There, they will meet the six top-ranked nations that are pre-qualified directly to the tournament. The six national teams pre-seeded in the Championship are (in ranking order): the United States (1), Mexico (2), Honduras (3), Panama (4), Cuba (5), and Guatemala (6).