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Boyz fail to progress in Gold Cup
IAN BURNETT, @ THE CONCACAF GOLD CUP in the USA
Monday, July 13, 2009
MIAMI, USA - Jamaica's national senior football team will be heading home today after being sent packing from the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament here last evening.
El Salvador's Alexander Escobar (right) falls to the ground as Jamaica's Ricardo Fuller (10) moves down during their CONCACAF Gold Cup football match in Miami on Friday night. Jamaica won 1-0, but the victory was not enough to see them advance to the quarter-finals. (Photo: AP)
The Reggae Boyz's hopes were dashed from early when Panama humbled Central American neighbours Nicaragua 4-0 to claim third place in Group C on four points, thus edging Jamaica out of being one of the two best third-placed teams.
The other third-placed berth was taken by Caribbean neighbours Haiti on Saturday night.
Assistant head coach Bradley Stewart and team captain Ricardo Gardner, while expressing regret at the team's elimination, pointed to the side's lack of 'killer instinct' in front of goal as the main reason for their early departure.
"Yes it is," said Stewart in explaining the disappointment of his team's exit. "Particularly because of the quality of the players we have on tour.
We certainly had an expectation that the previous games we would have had positive results out of them and it wouldn't have got to this stage where we are dependent on the results of other teams, because certainly we believe that the Jamaica team is right up there with the best in the region," he added.
Coincidentally, the Boyz were at a training session yesterday when news filtered through that they had been eliminated, and Gardner said that all heads dropped with disappointment.
"The spirit went down. We were waiting on that result and hearing the news coming from outside it was really disappointing. It wasn't the result that we really wanted, but we had it in our hands and we had to depend on others in the end, so it's not really good from that standpoint, for me," he said.
Jamaica lost their first two encounters 0-1 against Canada and Costa Rica, despite playing better and creating clearer scoring opportunities, before edging El Salvador 1-0 in their last game, even while playing below par in that game.
In the end, missed chances came back to haunt the team.
"Finishing, finishing, meaning creating opportunities and not scoring on a high percentage of those opportunities created during this tournament," bemoaned Stewart yesterday. "The first game against Canada we had like 10, 12 opportunities. Canada had two or three opportunities... the kid that scored had one shot on goal," Stewart added.
While the team had difficulties on the pitch converting goalscoring chances, it also had its fair share of off-the-field problems as well, but Stewart believed it had little impact on the pitch.
"I don't know that players at this level take off-the-field incidents onto the pitch. I would rather look at a player's performance over a period of time than judge him on the basis of one match. I think that is what the coach has done...," said Stewart.
He noted, that going forward, the Jamaica Football Federation should look to expose "fresh blood" into whatever games are organised, in an effort to prepare for the next World Cup qualifiers.
Gardner also thought that the off-the-field incidents had no impact on the players' performances on the pitch. "I wouldn't say that affected the team spirit, really, because we got the opportunities in the games and the spirit was right on the pitch. What the player (Damion Stewart) and the coach had in the end is something between them," he noted.
However, Gardner, the Bolton Wanderers veteran, conceded that the team did not have enough time to prepare, though he believed that head coach Theodore Whitmore did "as great a job as he could in the little bit of time that he had us together".
He also rued the absence of veteran defender Ian 'Pepe' Goodison, even while admitting there were still enough quality players to have got the job done adequately.
"I think it affected the team a lot, but I think we had players here, as well, who could go out there and do the job," said Gardner.
Canada won Group A from Costa Rica, Jamaica and El Salvador, while the US won Group B ahead of Honduras, Haiti and Grenada, and Mexico topped Group C ahead of Guadeloupe, Panama and Nicaragua.
The quarter-finals will be played at Dallas and Philiadelphia on Saturday and Sunday, with the semis in Chicago on July 23 and the final in New Jersey three days later.
Boyz fail to progress in Gold Cup
IAN BURNETT, @ THE CONCACAF GOLD CUP in the USA
Monday, July 13, 2009
MIAMI, USA - Jamaica's national senior football team will be heading home today after being sent packing from the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament here last evening.
El Salvador's Alexander Escobar (right) falls to the ground as Jamaica's Ricardo Fuller (10) moves down during their CONCACAF Gold Cup football match in Miami on Friday night. Jamaica won 1-0, but the victory was not enough to see them advance to the quarter-finals. (Photo: AP)
The Reggae Boyz's hopes were dashed from early when Panama humbled Central American neighbours Nicaragua 4-0 to claim third place in Group C on four points, thus edging Jamaica out of being one of the two best third-placed teams.
The other third-placed berth was taken by Caribbean neighbours Haiti on Saturday night.
Assistant head coach Bradley Stewart and team captain Ricardo Gardner, while expressing regret at the team's elimination, pointed to the side's lack of 'killer instinct' in front of goal as the main reason for their early departure.
"Yes it is," said Stewart in explaining the disappointment of his team's exit. "Particularly because of the quality of the players we have on tour.
We certainly had an expectation that the previous games we would have had positive results out of them and it wouldn't have got to this stage where we are dependent on the results of other teams, because certainly we believe that the Jamaica team is right up there with the best in the region," he added.
Coincidentally, the Boyz were at a training session yesterday when news filtered through that they had been eliminated, and Gardner said that all heads dropped with disappointment.
"The spirit went down. We were waiting on that result and hearing the news coming from outside it was really disappointing. It wasn't the result that we really wanted, but we had it in our hands and we had to depend on others in the end, so it's not really good from that standpoint, for me," he said.
Jamaica lost their first two encounters 0-1 against Canada and Costa Rica, despite playing better and creating clearer scoring opportunities, before edging El Salvador 1-0 in their last game, even while playing below par in that game.
In the end, missed chances came back to haunt the team.
"Finishing, finishing, meaning creating opportunities and not scoring on a high percentage of those opportunities created during this tournament," bemoaned Stewart yesterday. "The first game against Canada we had like 10, 12 opportunities. Canada had two or three opportunities... the kid that scored had one shot on goal," Stewart added.
While the team had difficulties on the pitch converting goalscoring chances, it also had its fair share of off-the-field problems as well, but Stewart believed it had little impact on the pitch.
"I don't know that players at this level take off-the-field incidents onto the pitch. I would rather look at a player's performance over a period of time than judge him on the basis of one match. I think that is what the coach has done...," said Stewart.
He noted, that going forward, the Jamaica Football Federation should look to expose "fresh blood" into whatever games are organised, in an effort to prepare for the next World Cup qualifiers.
Gardner also thought that the off-the-field incidents had no impact on the players' performances on the pitch. "I wouldn't say that affected the team spirit, really, because we got the opportunities in the games and the spirit was right on the pitch. What the player (Damion Stewart) and the coach had in the end is something between them," he noted.
However, Gardner, the Bolton Wanderers veteran, conceded that the team did not have enough time to prepare, though he believed that head coach Theodore Whitmore did "as great a job as he could in the little bit of time that he had us together".
He also rued the absence of veteran defender Ian 'Pepe' Goodison, even while admitting there were still enough quality players to have got the job done adequately.
"I think it affected the team a lot, but I think we had players here, as well, who could go out there and do the job," said Gardner.
Canada won Group A from Costa Rica, Jamaica and El Salvador, while the US won Group B ahead of Honduras, Haiti and Grenada, and Mexico topped Group C ahead of Guadeloupe, Panama and Nicaragua.
The quarter-finals will be played at Dallas and Philiadelphia on Saturday and Sunday, with the semis in Chicago on July 23 and the final in New Jersey three days later.
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