Backed by a vociferous crowd of about 4,000, the Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s senior national men’s football team, pulled off their most significant victory in the history of local football on Saturday evening.
Guyanese responded to the ‘Wear Yellow’ call and they came out fully aware that a victory was the only result that would matter for the home side against Belize in the Concacaf Nations League.
A hard-fought 2-1 success over the visitors means Michael Johnson’s men, overcome with emotions, are heading to the Concacaf Gold Cup for the first time.
There were screams of contentment, tears of joy, high fives by men and women who were probably seeing each other for the first time, and of course an expression of gratitude to the unseen force.
It all came together after weeks of meticulous planning and sustained and structured training, and as Communications and Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Football Federation, Debra Francis, pointed out, “long days and short nights.”
The National Track and Field Centre at Leonora erupted 16 minutes into the match when Neil Danns, sporting #16 on his back, tucked in a penalty, beating the sprawling Belize captain and goalkeeper Woodrow West.