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Whitmore Savours Big Win
Published: Wednesday | June 8, 2011
Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport
CARSON, California:
IN TERMS of ball possession and shutting down the opponents, it was thoroughly efficient.
No wonder head coach Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore was altogether pleased with that aspect of their opening game, as Jamaica's Reggae Boyz turned in one of their better performances in years while executing a perfectly measured 4-0 demolition job on Grenada, in their CONCACAF Gold Cup Group B fixture on Monday night.
"Except for complacency and the fact that our finishing let us down, the overall performance of the team was excellent," Whitmore stated, while watching Jamaica's other first-round opponents - Guatemala and Honduras - play to a 0-0 result in the feature match of the evening's double-header, at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles.
Unlike four years ago when they lost their opening Gold Cup fixture 1-0 to Canada at this very ground - en route to first round elimination - this time the Boyz have made a perfect start, jumping to the top of the group with three points, two more than the Central Americans, while Grenada stay bottom at nought.
Luton Shelton (21st), Ryan Johnson (39th), Demar Phillips (79th) and Omar Daley (84th) scored for the Reggae Boyz, who jumped to three points and top of the four-team group.
"It's a good way to start, but I think we could have scored a lot more (goals) tonight," said Whitmore, pointing to the important, yet glitchy points of an overwhelming display that trended upward as the minutes lengthened.
Methodically, they initiated their game with slow, patient build-ups without major exertions to force their way forward through the first 15 minutes, constructing a rhythmic pattern as the central midfielders craved the lion's share amid huge ball possession and some amount of probing, easily and skilfully working the ball around their opponents' efforts to impede their workflow.
Patience reflected
The measure of their patience was reflected in the fact that they never took their first shot on goal until the 19th minute, when defensive midfielder Demar Phillips took a pass off Luton Shelton and drilled a shot into the near post.
Two minutes later, the goal finally came when a set play from the training ground saw Dane Richards and Rodolph Austin work a short corner, before the former whipped in a low cross that Shelton met at the near post and turned the ball past goalkeeper Shemel Louison high into the net.
Thenceforth, the Reggae Boyz got set into raid mode and produced chance upon chance, only to be let down by poor finishing, mainly.
Truth be told, they should really have had the ball in the back of Grenada's net many times, but only had one more goal to show before half-time, after Johnson tucked away a sitter at the 39th minute, ensuring Richards' second assist on the night.
By the interval, the shooting statistics read Jamaica 10, Grenada 1 - a speculative Shane Rennie effort from half line that barely had pace to roll to goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts inside the penalty box.
Somehow, the already-dominant Jamaicans still managed to turn up the controls to a different level and started marshalling a one-way act with ball ownership that was effectively creating more wide open goal chances.
Sadly, Shelton and Johnson, the main benefactors, never seemed to be in the mood as they spurned chance after chance.
Unbelievable shot
Among the easiest were an opportunity rammed over the crossbar from seven yards by Shelton and an equally unbelievable side-footed shot onto the goalpost by Johnson, after being put clear through by substitute Keammar Daley, who had the through-passing down pat in an impressive display.
"I think Keammar Daley brought something to the game that we were lacking, and I keep saying Keammar Daley just needs to get the confidence and the belief that he's the one to replace Theodore Whitmore, (the one) that we've been talking about," noted the head coach, a former midfield maestro of the Jamaica team in his heyday.
The Reggae Boyz's finishing, and game, however, would get a bit better as the substitutes injected into the game by Whitmore, Daley and his unrelated namesake, Omar, along with Jevaughn Watson, showed much hunger and breathed new life into Jamaica's attacks, as the team simply drained through a Grenadian defence that had by now become a sieve.
Published: Wednesday | June 8, 2011
Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport
CARSON, California:
IN TERMS of ball possession and shutting down the opponents, it was thoroughly efficient.
No wonder head coach Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore was altogether pleased with that aspect of their opening game, as Jamaica's Reggae Boyz turned in one of their better performances in years while executing a perfectly measured 4-0 demolition job on Grenada, in their CONCACAF Gold Cup Group B fixture on Monday night.
"Except for complacency and the fact that our finishing let us down, the overall performance of the team was excellent," Whitmore stated, while watching Jamaica's other first-round opponents - Guatemala and Honduras - play to a 0-0 result in the feature match of the evening's double-header, at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles.
Unlike four years ago when they lost their opening Gold Cup fixture 1-0 to Canada at this very ground - en route to first round elimination - this time the Boyz have made a perfect start, jumping to the top of the group with three points, two more than the Central Americans, while Grenada stay bottom at nought.
Luton Shelton (21st), Ryan Johnson (39th), Demar Phillips (79th) and Omar Daley (84th) scored for the Reggae Boyz, who jumped to three points and top of the four-team group.
"It's a good way to start, but I think we could have scored a lot more (goals) tonight," said Whitmore, pointing to the important, yet glitchy points of an overwhelming display that trended upward as the minutes lengthened.
Methodically, they initiated their game with slow, patient build-ups without major exertions to force their way forward through the first 15 minutes, constructing a rhythmic pattern as the central midfielders craved the lion's share amid huge ball possession and some amount of probing, easily and skilfully working the ball around their opponents' efforts to impede their workflow.
Patience reflected
The measure of their patience was reflected in the fact that they never took their first shot on goal until the 19th minute, when defensive midfielder Demar Phillips took a pass off Luton Shelton and drilled a shot into the near post.
Two minutes later, the goal finally came when a set play from the training ground saw Dane Richards and Rodolph Austin work a short corner, before the former whipped in a low cross that Shelton met at the near post and turned the ball past goalkeeper Shemel Louison high into the net.
Thenceforth, the Reggae Boyz got set into raid mode and produced chance upon chance, only to be let down by poor finishing, mainly.
Truth be told, they should really have had the ball in the back of Grenada's net many times, but only had one more goal to show before half-time, after Johnson tucked away a sitter at the 39th minute, ensuring Richards' second assist on the night.
By the interval, the shooting statistics read Jamaica 10, Grenada 1 - a speculative Shane Rennie effort from half line that barely had pace to roll to goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts inside the penalty box.
Somehow, the already-dominant Jamaicans still managed to turn up the controls to a different level and started marshalling a one-way act with ball ownership that was effectively creating more wide open goal chances.
Sadly, Shelton and Johnson, the main benefactors, never seemed to be in the mood as they spurned chance after chance.
Unbelievable shot
Among the easiest were an opportunity rammed over the crossbar from seven yards by Shelton and an equally unbelievable side-footed shot onto the goalpost by Johnson, after being put clear through by substitute Keammar Daley, who had the through-passing down pat in an impressive display.
"I think Keammar Daley brought something to the game that we were lacking, and I keep saying Keammar Daley just needs to get the confidence and the belief that he's the one to replace Theodore Whitmore, (the one) that we've been talking about," noted the head coach, a former midfield maestro of the Jamaica team in his heyday.
The Reggae Boyz's finishing, and game, however, would get a bit better as the substitutes injected into the game by Whitmore, Daley and his unrelated namesake, Omar, along with Jevaughn Watson, showed much hunger and breathed new life into Jamaica's attacks, as the team simply drained through a Grenadian defence that had by now become a sieve.
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