‘I won’t shy away from taking a penalty again for Guyana’ – Cort

A week after missing the crucial penalty in the 2014 World Cup Qualifier versus Central American counterparts El Salvador at Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Golden Jaguars striker Carl Cort said that if he should be asked to shoot another penalty he would gladly oblige.
Had Cort converted the spot kick in the 88th minute Guyana would have secured a 3-3 draw in Group B, making their chances of moving to the next round simpler. Cort was speaking from his Florida-based, North American Soccer League (NASL) club, Tampa Bay Rowdies.
The experienced 34-year- old frontman who has played in the English Premier League and the England Under-21s in his career that commenced in 1996, spoke candidly about the penalty moment and his overall match efforts.
“To be honest at the heat of the moment after the keeper saved the penalty I didn’t really feel anything. I think it was because there was an instant reaction for me to regain the ball after the he saved it. It wasn’t until after the game it really sunk in and it felt like all eyes were on me and I’ll be honest at that time I felt like I let myself, my team mates, staff and the fans down,” explained Cort humbly.
He continued, “I wish I could go back in time and retake the penalty but that just isn’t going to happen. There are several moments in every athlete’s career where a situation arises like that, sometimes you succeed sometimes you don’t. I can tell you though if the situation came about again I wouldn’t shy away from it. I can understand some of the fans’ instant negative reaction towards me, but I’m human just like everyone else and I’m  not the first footballer to miss a penalty and I’ll certainly not  be the last.”
He played a leading hand in the first two goals for Guyana. It was his pass to Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson that opened the scoring for Guyana in the first minute. Secondly, it was his deflected header pass that Chris Nurse latched on to for the equalizer.
His height and presence in the box caused the Salvadoran defence much trouble on the night. “I’m my worst critic but I do feel I performed pretty well in general that day. Any player will tell you that they get great pleasure in playing a part in other team-mates scoring goals. For me personally missing the penalty doesn’t take away the way I felt about my performance. I wouldn’t say the two assists gave me  consolation  for the penalty miss. I just see it as three separate major moments of the match,” Cort explained.
He stated further, “It’s funny because the way some of the public look at it is in black and white. If I scored the penalty I walk off that field a hero. Even with two assists and a good performance because I missed the penalty I’m now a villain.”
Although Cort readily admitted that it took him a few days to get over the penalty blunder, he noted, given his experience of playing at a high level, it is important to move on from such an incident.
“It took me a few days to get over what happened. I wouldn’t say because  I’ve  played at the highest level that it makes it a lot easier to get over. Just like many other footballers I’ve been in a few disappointing situations in my career but I’ve learned how to get over them quicker and move on. That’s how you succeed in the game,” he reasoned.
Cort has played five internationals for Guyana since making his debut in the famous second round World Cup qualifier triumph over Trinidad and Tobago last November. He concluded with his thoughts on the game and the qualifiers to date, along with what he hopes to achieve at his new club, ahead of next month’s matches against CONCACAF giants, Mexico and Costa Rica.
“During the qualifying stages I’ve felt that my general performance has been okay. Yes I would have liked to have gotten my goal tally started but that just hasn’t happened yet. This is the first time for me and the rest of the players and staff performing at this level so it is all a learning process going up against these nations who are veterans at playing as a team at this level. I think to a certain extent Guyana has over achieved and has come a long way over the last two-three years. If you were to  say to  the general public two-three years ago that Guyana would be performing against teams like Mexico and holding their own you probably wouldn’t have got a  positive reaction,” Cort asserted.
“It does help a great deal now I’m playing for a club. Being able to train everyday can only help my fitness etc. There are still many things I would like to improve on in my game the most important for me right now is improving on my general match fitness. Due to injuries in the past and mother nature I don’t  have the legs I once did and I understand that, so I try to change my game up a bit which involves  more link up play and bringing other team mates into the game,” he concluded.