Guatemala looked good to reach the group stage of the Gold Cup. Guyana has once again grown in its actions, but it was not enough to face Amarini Villatoro’s men who had to immediately make up for their failure in the first round of the World Cup Qualifiers. A necessary respite and one step away from being among the best again.
The meeting began leveled with responses from the Guyanese to the pressure of the locals by protocol, but the Chapin attack was much stronger and the sensations of goal at the DRV PNK Stadium grew at great speeds until Stheven Robles insisted from outside the area and a friendly deflection ended up sending the ball behind the goalkeeper McKenzie-Lyle. From there, Márcio Máximo’s squad resisted, but a madness in the closing sentenced them.
A yellow to Emery Welshman seemed like the worst to conclude the first half, but Keanu Marsh-Brown disconnected and a ball fight was made by putting the studs on Marco Domínguez’s head and the whistler did not hesitate to send him off. From a match with multiple possibilities, it all came down to certain defeat. And the goals made it clear.
If Guatemala had started the day in an annoying way, the second half was even worse for its rival and with less than ten minutes on the field came the second goal. This one now came from an error by Terrence Vancooten when he wanted to leave the round with his chest to his goalkeeper, but Luis Martínez was more intelligent and finished. The Guatemalans did not even take their foot off the accelerator and Darwin Lom sentenced with the third. They were even left over – in a good way – when José Martínez’s fourth goal only served to make his compatriots present dance.
In this way, Guatemala goes to the next round to try to get their place in the group stage of the Gold Cup. His next opponent will be Guadalupe on Tuesday, July 6 and, in case of moving forward, it would end up entering the group that Costa Rica, Jamaica and Suriname already share. On July 12 they would have their first match against Costa Rica.
How were the results of the other meetings?
In the other matches of the first round, Haiti and Bermuda thrashed by more than five goals against their counterparts in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados. In the Guatemala key, Guadeloupe beat the Bahamas and, in the next one, Trinidad and Tobago beat Montserrat 6 to 1. Cuba could not participate due to visa problems and they gave the match to French Guyana.