Vincy Heat confident of taming Guyana Jaguars

Tomorrow, Wednesday, from 3:30 p.m., at the Arnos Vale One Playing Field, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ senior men’s football team Vincy Heat will seek to quell any bites thrown by the Guyana Golden Jaguars.{{more}}

A confident Vincy Heat head coach Cornelius Huggins told a media briefing on Monday at the St Vincent and the Football Federation’s office at Bentick Square that his charges are in high spirits.

“The team is ready to take up the challenge in taking St Vincent [and the Grenadines] to the next round of the World Cup qualifiers … We know we can do it on Wednesday against Guyana,” Huggins said.

“We just want the public to come out and support the team; we don’t want it to seem that we are playing away … Support Vincy Heat… We all are here for the same reason,” Huggins added.

Also expressing bubbly confidence was the team’s captain and vice-captain Dorren Hamlett and Myron Samuel respectively, who said they were “eager” to face the Guyanese.

“We are united … we have one heart, one body, one soul … We are ready to take St Vincent to the next level,” Samuel commented.

The head coach noted that based on the experiences in the Windwards tournament in which the Vincentian forwards were guilty of muffing several chances, his technical staff has worked assiduously on that aspect.

He accepted that the Guyana would be a tougher proposition, given they would be replete with their professional players, who mainly ply their trade in England.

Huggins said that it would have been ideal for the team to have at least one international friendly prior to the match-up with the Guyanese, so that the overseas based players would have had an opportunity to be tested in a match situation.

Wednesday’s encounter will be the first occasion that both sides would be meeting in World Cup qualification.

Their previous meetings have been in the Caribbean Cup and in friendly internationals.

Records of the last five encounters against each other show both teams winning two and one drawn match.

During their last World Cup journey in 2011, St Vincent and the Grenadines exited during the second round, when they were grouped with Guatemala, Grenada and Belize.

On the other hand, Guyana had their best showing, reaching to the third phase of the qualifiers.

Following Wednesday’s match, both teams will meet on Sunday in the reverse fixture at the Guyana National Stadium.

Coach Huggins on Monday evening announced the 20-member team for Wednesday’s match.

The outfit includes Winslow Mc Dowald, Lemus Christopher, Reginald Richardson, Roy Richards, Kevin Francis, Jolanshoy Mc Dowald, Glenford Ashton, Keith James, Dwayne Dennie, Dorren Hamlett, Cornelius Stewart, Kyle Edwards, Vasbert Ledger, Chavel Cunningham, Emerald George, Gavin James, Dennis Prescott, Myron Samuel, Oalex Anderson and Tevin Slater.