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Jamaica and the defensive game
published: Thursday | March 20, 2008
After a 1-1 draw with D.C. United at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium, many were expecting Harbour View to lose the return-leg CONCACAF Champions Cup game in Washington on Tuesday night.
However, a 5-0 thrashing was more than many, yours truly included, bargained for.
At no point did I envision D.C. United, a United States Major League Soccer kingpin, as a team that was five goals better than any of the top Jamaican sides.
What went wrong
Since the shock of the massive defeat, I have had time to go over the tapes of the game and to analyse what went so horribly wrong.
Just as in the first game, Devon McTavish of D.C. United broke the hearts of Harbour View fans by sending home a goal that looked fortuitous at best.
In truth though, being in the right place at the right time is part of the job of a forward and the job of a defender is to ensure that when his opponent gets to the right place, even if it is at the right time, he is there to make things difficult.
That didn't happen in Harbour View a week ago, and it didn't happen on Tuesday night in Washington. On both occasions, McTavish was the first to react to a ball bobbling in the Harbour View box.
I wasn't even concerned about that goal so much as the others the Jamaicans let in.
After playing some confident-looking football at the beginning of the second half and seeming like it was only a matter of time before the back of the US club was broken and a goal would result, Harbour View again gave up a soft goal.
This is where the 'Stars of the East' lost their heads. In rushing to get back into the game, they paid the price of overcommitting players into attack.
Understaffed back-line
The speed of D.C. United's attackers was too much to deal with for an understaffed back-line, void of both wing-backs for disaster not to strike and it took just five minutes for three goals to slam into Harbour View's net.
A Jamaican team has made it to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup after winning the Caribbean Football Union competition on at least three occasions now.
However, those teams have not been able to get past the American and Mexican teams they have met there.
The reason this has never happened is the same - the local premier league is stagnant.
The premier league is undoubtedly filled with talent, but there is no doubt that there is room for better coaching and for more thought into the game.
When the game went to 2-0 in Washington on Tuesday night, a coach or a player needed to have made sure the players understood that they needed to go back to what was working for them. And, although they were down two goals, they were having slightly better possession than their opponents.
Instead, an instinctual reaction came to the fore and Harbour View started rushing, which tells me that they were unprepared for the tactically superior game plan of D.C. United.
I am unaware of whether or not Lenworth 'Teacher' Hyde, arguably one of the country's greatest talents, knew what was happening and tried to get his players to adjust, but the players themselves seemed clueless.
Defence woes
Harbour View are one of those teams that get tactics right more often than not in the premier league, but for some reason, this is not translated when the stage gets bigger.
The defensive woes of Harbour View on Tuesday night speak to a problem that is a Jamaican one.
Gone are the days when defenders were big and strong and aggressive, with that being enough to get them out of trouble. Today, they are fast, skilful and smart and until Jamaicans begin to push their defenders in that direction, club football, and by extension, national football, will have a far way to go.
Donald Stewart, for instance, was played out of Tuesday's game simply because he was too slow.
The same problem presented itself to Jermaine Taylor and Christopher Harvey, as they were outsmarted and outpaced time and time again by the runs of D.C. United's forwards.
At the other end of the field, it was a different story as the positional play of D.C.'s defenders frustrated Harbour View and allowed sweeping counter-attacks that led to their demise.
The premier league needs to find defensive coaches, coaches who teach teams how to defend more effectively.
Until then, there will forever be one hurdle Jamaican teams will not get over. Paul-Andre.Walker@gleanerjm.com
published: Thursday | March 20, 2008
After a 1-1 draw with D.C. United at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium, many were expecting Harbour View to lose the return-leg CONCACAF Champions Cup game in Washington on Tuesday night.
However, a 5-0 thrashing was more than many, yours truly included, bargained for.
At no point did I envision D.C. United, a United States Major League Soccer kingpin, as a team that was five goals better than any of the top Jamaican sides.
What went wrong
Since the shock of the massive defeat, I have had time to go over the tapes of the game and to analyse what went so horribly wrong.
Just as in the first game, Devon McTavish of D.C. United broke the hearts of Harbour View fans by sending home a goal that looked fortuitous at best.
In truth though, being in the right place at the right time is part of the job of a forward and the job of a defender is to ensure that when his opponent gets to the right place, even if it is at the right time, he is there to make things difficult.
That didn't happen in Harbour View a week ago, and it didn't happen on Tuesday night in Washington. On both occasions, McTavish was the first to react to a ball bobbling in the Harbour View box.
I wasn't even concerned about that goal so much as the others the Jamaicans let in.
After playing some confident-looking football at the beginning of the second half and seeming like it was only a matter of time before the back of the US club was broken and a goal would result, Harbour View again gave up a soft goal.
This is where the 'Stars of the East' lost their heads. In rushing to get back into the game, they paid the price of overcommitting players into attack.
Understaffed back-line
The speed of D.C. United's attackers was too much to deal with for an understaffed back-line, void of both wing-backs for disaster not to strike and it took just five minutes for three goals to slam into Harbour View's net.
A Jamaican team has made it to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup after winning the Caribbean Football Union competition on at least three occasions now.
However, those teams have not been able to get past the American and Mexican teams they have met there.
The reason this has never happened is the same - the local premier league is stagnant.
The premier league is undoubtedly filled with talent, but there is no doubt that there is room for better coaching and for more thought into the game.
When the game went to 2-0 in Washington on Tuesday night, a coach or a player needed to have made sure the players understood that they needed to go back to what was working for them. And, although they were down two goals, they were having slightly better possession than their opponents.
Instead, an instinctual reaction came to the fore and Harbour View started rushing, which tells me that they were unprepared for the tactically superior game plan of D.C. United.
I am unaware of whether or not Lenworth 'Teacher' Hyde, arguably one of the country's greatest talents, knew what was happening and tried to get his players to adjust, but the players themselves seemed clueless.
Defence woes
Harbour View are one of those teams that get tactics right more often than not in the premier league, but for some reason, this is not translated when the stage gets bigger.
The defensive woes of Harbour View on Tuesday night speak to a problem that is a Jamaican one.
Gone are the days when defenders were big and strong and aggressive, with that being enough to get them out of trouble. Today, they are fast, skilful and smart and until Jamaicans begin to push their defenders in that direction, club football, and by extension, national football, will have a far way to go.
Donald Stewart, for instance, was played out of Tuesday's game simply because he was too slow.
The same problem presented itself to Jermaine Taylor and Christopher Harvey, as they were outsmarted and outpaced time and time again by the runs of D.C. United's forwards.
At the other end of the field, it was a different story as the positional play of D.C.'s defenders frustrated Harbour View and allowed sweeping counter-attacks that led to their demise.
The premier league needs to find defensive coaches, coaches who teach teams how to defend more effectively.
Until then, there will forever be one hurdle Jamaican teams will not get over. Paul-Andre.Walker@gleanerjm.com
...lacking the mental capacity to come up with solutions! 
...additionally...where was the attacking game?
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