Nil: Belize versus Guatemala in football

On the Road to the Gold Cup 2013, Belize played Guatemala this afternoon in Antigua, Guatemala. While the National ‘A’ Selection, the Jaguars, ended its second international friendly game with a stalemate, there were nail-biting moments.  After ninety minutes of regulation time the match resulted in a draw.  This is the second non-competitive meet in which Belize has finished equal with another regional team on the way to Gold Cup to be played in the United States in July.  In March, the Jaguars faced Trinidad’s Soca Warriors at the F.F.B. Stadium in Belmopan which ended as a scoreless outing for both teams.  Two months later, on May twenty-ninth, the Jaguars headed to Melchor de Mencos where they defeated Guatemala’s Club Heredia by a score of two to nothing.  Head Coach, Ian Andrew Mork, told News Five that the boys are playing optimal football.

Via Phone: Ian Andrew Mork, Head Coach, Belize National Selection

“Well we drew nil-nil, but we played very well and I’m really proud of the group. We played well as a team descended really well as a unit and created some chances. We weren’t able to finish, but some things that we have been working on in training; especially keeping the ball and possessing the ball…I thought we did much better at that today. We gave them a really good game so overall it is a good result for us.”

Isani Cayetano

Ian Andrew Mork

“When Belize played against Trinidad a few weeks ago, they also drew at zero. Can you share with me if this is something that needs to be worked on in terms of the team’s offence or is it something where the demonstration of our ability to defend our goal is what is key at this moment?”

Via Phone: Ian Andrew Mork

“Well I mean there are different schools of thought on that. Some teams, they play more of an attacking-style in football and I think overall, this group has generally been playing more of a defensive counter attacking style of football. I am trying to incorporate a little more attacking ideas, possession ideas and try to control the game a little more…but again that takes a lot of time. So defensively, we are really solid. We are playing against teams that are stronger than us, they have more professional players than us and we just have to make sure we continue to respect them and keep the game close. And ultimately I think we are going to see that we improve as the weeks go on so there’s a lot to build on with it.”

Isani Cayetano

“Was there a specific possession, as far as you can recall, in which Belize could have capitalized in terms of trying to put a score on the board?”

Via Phone: Ian Andrew Mork

“Yeah, yeah, there were several. We created quite a few chances and going forward, we had the ball quite a bit throughout periods of the game and we had some chances of scoring as well. I think that as a group, we see that that’s an area that we need to continue to focus on more. But looking at the big picture, if we get a result like this against the U.S., we might find ourselves advancing in the Gold Cup and that’s the way we gotta look at these big games like this. So for us we’re just gonna build on the positive right now.”

Today’s game concluded the friendlies with international counterparts. The record so far is that Belize has not lost any of the three games. The team has won one and drawn on two instances. Today’s game will be aired on this station later this week so stay tuned.