GUYANA
V
INDIA
Providence Stadium, Georgetown
August 24th, 2011 Kick-off: 7:30 PM Local Time
(August 25th, 5:00 AM IST)
—
The second friendly on the Caribbean Tour is slated to take place in the South American Mainland Nation of Guyana on 24th of August 7.30 pm local time. Up against an opponent with a near equal caliber in terms of FIFA rankings, this match against Guyana can prove to be a perfect one to gauge Coach Armando Colaco’s boys. The venue of the game in Georgetown is the Providence Stadium built by Indian Architects and Engineers during the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007.
–
GUYANA:
FIFA RANKING: 116
Being part of CONCACAF, the Guyana national football team, fondly referred to as the “Golden Jaguars” by their fans, often end up playing its Caribbean counterparts rather than mainland American teams. This has led to the National Team playing occasional matches apart from local Caribbean Championships and the odd Olympic and World Cup Qualifiers. The last International friendly played by Guyana was nearly a year ago, incidentally against India’s previous opponents ; Trinidad and Tobago. In that match, the “Soca Warriors” were held to a 1-1 draw.
Guyana Football Federation hosted a press briefing in the Guyana Telegraph and Telephone campus. Head Coach Wayne Dover has his squad mostly based in Guyana with a few players coming from T&T Football Clubs. They are expected to line up in a 4-4-2 formation, just like the Indian team.
Midfielders Shawn Beveny, Neil Hernandez, and striker Carrey Harris are the key players for the home side. North East Stars’ goalkeeper Andrew Durant is also an inspiritial figure to the Guyanan youngsters and the Indian strike pair of Sunil Chhetri-Jeje Lalpekhlua will have to be at their best to find the back of the net beating the highly-rated shot-stopper.
Expected Line-Up: Andrew Durant, Orlando Giligeous, Howard Lowe, Walter Moore, Charles Pollard, Shawn Beveny, Shawn Bishop, Neil Hernandez, Anthony Abrams, Carrey Harris, Collie Hercules
INDIA:
FIFA RANKING: 153
With a substantial Indian origin population residing in Guyana, Team India can expect a good hand of support from the audience. After a three nil drubbing at the Port of Spain on the 21st, Sunil Chhetri and Jeje would love to get back to scoring ways in this encounter. Of-late India has been strong upfront as the strikers have managed to score on 8 occasions out of 11 International Matches in 2011 .
Subrata Pal had another excellent outing against Trinidad & Tobago and he was the reason India could leave the field with a respectable defeat margin. In the defense line-up, Raju Gaekwad and Gouramagi Singh are all set to strengthen their partnership in central defense, while Samir Naik and Debabrata Roy could give way to Mahesh Gawli and Valeriano Robello at the side back positions.
In the middle of the park, Armando Colaco may well try and bring veterans Climax Lawrence or Steven Dias later into the game and in turn give start to the fresh legs of Lalrindika Ralte or Rocus Lamare. Mehtab Hussain and Syed Rahim Nabi are two of the automatic choices in the starting XI.
Expected Line-Up: Subrata Pal, Mahesh Gawli, Raju Gaekwad, Gouramangi Singh, Debabrata Roy, Lalrindika Ralte, Climax Lawrence, Mehtab Hussain, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sunil Chettri, Jeje Lalpekhlua.