Honduras 2nd half of the 2nd half

[Stonigut]

Went back and looked at this and it wasn't as bad as i thought but still much room for improvement, Maudib was making the point that I was overstating the weakness of the performance there and after reviewing there is some truth to that. However again the weakness seems to some degree to be conditioning as there was a tiyad factor , even though i must again say that the midfielders and defenders were still running hard at the opponents and closing down space consistently so Hon had no where to go thus a number of long overly ambitious shots with no real penetration in passing play.
They were beating our guys to balls in midfield, balls that we were consistently winning earlier in the match, their adrenaline level hit the roof trying to answer that goal and it seems we did not match the intensity thus losing balls and bad passes but the defense was still good..

Again this is the part of the improvement that I love the most about the side, being so fit and so mentally prepared that you can play shutdown defense for long stretches of the game, these guys are a cut above every thing i have ever seen in a Jamaican team on the defense side, it is early days yet but as i have always said Whitmore is the man and he is not satisfied with mediocre and that is clear to see

[Me]

My biggest concern is what happens when they high press the right side of the field. Adrian Reid and Vernan are both liable to do the big kick upfield or turnover the ball. I hope they can maintain the off the ball movement that we saw in the first few games. Once a team presses against the two stoppers, then D Ricketts has no option but to do the big boom upfield and we know how accurate that is.

Luton and Ryan need to make sure they put away their early chance.

The subs will be extremely important in this game. I think the skill and energy that we get from Daley, Daley and Watson entering the game can overun a tired Bradley and Jones and can get around Sacha and Adu. On the other hand Damion Williams and Richie Edwards might need to be brought in to hold the lead if the US send on Bedoya, Sacha and Agudelo.

[Assasin]

The fact is Austin, and Morrison were out of the midfield. Plus Whitmore tested Kemar for the full 90. Kemar didn't last the full 90, so therefore the midfield was weak.

changing 6 starter was a risk and we passed. My only concern is the fact that we have lost 3 central defenders and if we need another sub Jason Morrison will have to play deeper and we have nobody to cover. Tappa should try and get Lovell to cover in central mid.

[Karl]

Defense best ever?

mmmm? It is the defense That frightens the hell out of me.

Granted you are always as a defender reacting to "your man" after he has made his move...but these wing defenders are reacting too often waaaaay too late. So late that at times they are mere spectators to what the player who has beaten them to position then goes on to do.

They need to step up on that reaction-time. A few times they have left our 'keeper ('keepers...we have used more than one) all alone.

Guess I just lost my discipline as I never wanted to put these thoughts on the forum until the competition was all over.

[Willi]

Why cant Tappa draw for Marshall to beef up the squad?? He is already registered!

[Me]

I saw some article claiming that rules prevented him from joining the squad.

[Stonigut]

Karl,

I am not talking about the conventional sense of defense, meaning the back four, I am thinking total team defense approach is the best i have ever seen it, a commitment by all players to the concept and the players being fit enough and aware enough to execute for long stretches of a game. The actual defense four still needs improvement however they seem to be playing together well and show some shakiness when pressed.

[Assasin]

the thing is this is not the best defense ever, not the best midfield ever, or best forward ever but it is the BEST TEAM AND THE FASTEST TEAM we ever put on a field.

Normally we have one or two forward who don't even come back. Play out position, get the ball turn and run at defense, Normally we have a midfielder who don't defend, one who gives away the ball.
Normally we have a defender who only thing in his mind is cane cutting, One who just boot the ball out and one or two wing back who gives away the ball or try to beat too many players.

[myYout]

Right on, mi love di arguments sah!!
Di defensive awareness an acumen dat wi defense ah display secon to none right about now, dat plain as day. Why? Because ah wi bench defense yuh gi accolades to; not di first team dat is very very important to note. Yuh ah si di ting right breddrin. Inna fi mi opinion, once wi play up to standard US nah nuh chance todeh, kah wi jus bettah inna all facets ah di game. A jus suh mi seeit.

[Karl]

Karl,

I am not talking about the conventional sense of defense, meaning the back four, I am thinking total team defense approach is the best i have ever seen it, a commitment by all players to the concept and the players being fit enough and aware enough to execute for long stretches of a game. The actual defense four still needs improvement however they seem to be playing together well and show some shakiness when pressed.

Got yuh!
Agreed our TEAM defense is best ever.
Yup! ...to me better than the '98 TEAM.

The opposition we are facing at this CONCACAF level - minus Grenada is best ever.

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Former youth captain says discipline key for Boyz


Sunday, June 19, 2011

VIRGINIA, USA — To say that the performances of Jamaica's Reggae Boyz so far in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament have significantly lifted the spirits and pride of the expatriates here in North America would be an understatement.


The Boyz have been enthusiastically greeted here on the eastern belt of the US, and one such expatriate is former juvenile captain, Carlton Briscoe, who has been extremely impressed by what he calls the Reggae Boyz's 'confident arrogance'. A special swagger he hasn't seen in many years.
Former Jamaica juvenile captain Carlton Briscoe at the team’s Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Virginia, USA. (Photo: Ian Burnett)



Briscoe, 49, is a past Manning Cup player for Excelsior High School (1975-77 under Geoffrey Maxwell) and daCosta Cup player for Clarendon College (1978 under Winston Chung-Fah and 1979). He was the captain of the Jamaica juvenile team for the last two years of his schooldays, before taking up a football scholarship at Howard University in the fall of 1980. He has been living in Maryland for over 30 years.

"Even though we were playing Grenada, who in my mind is a lesser team from the Caribbean, I was very impressed with the confidence with which the team was playing. I was very impressed with the technical and tactical speed with which they were playing and I was actually most impressed with the defensive tactical awareness, which in my estimation is one of the biggest improvements (of the team)."

Briscoe, who graduated from Howard University with a degree in accounting, and has been working in that field ever since, added: "I've watched the team play before and I've always been very surprised at, for want of a better terminology, the lack of awareness in terms of the defensive reads, and just watching this squad the defensive awareness overall as a team unit is very impressive to me.

"Looking at the game against Guatemala I knew it would have been a more competitive game and again I was very impressed with what I called the 'confident arrogance' of the players on the ball, which was reminiscent of 1998 when the team made it to the World Cup Finals," he noted.

The father of two watched the first two games on television, but journeyed to New Jersey to witness for himself the game against Honduras. It was a game in which head coach Theodore Whitmore injected six new faces, as he rested some players and protected those threatened by yellow card suspensions.

He identified the quality of the passing, the quality of the receiving of the ball as two areas which cemented in his mind that the team was indeed improving.

"These things might be fundamental and seemingly elementary, but when you watch the game at the highest level, a team like Barcelona, that is one of the main reasons why they are far superior to any other team, the precision of their passing, the quality of their passing, the accuracy of the passing, the efficiency with which the players receive the ball and take the minimal number of touches to prepare for the next action is great, and I've seen some of these things being transferred and being shown now in the Jamaican team, which is very encouraging."

When Briscoe watches a game, he doesn't just watch it as an ordinary spectator, he watches it with the eagle eyes of a coach, who attained a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) A licence in 2002.

Now he believes that the Boyz will have to maintain their discipline if they are to register a first- ever victory over the US in today's first quarter-final at the sold-out 46,000-capacity RFK Stadium at 3:00 pm (2:00 pm Jamaica time).
"We have to maintain our defensive tactical awareness of reading the penetrating passes, of reading the switch by the far sided balancing player, making sure that we don't get beat on the blind side," he said.

"I would like us to get a little bit sharper on defending set plays, corner kicks, free-kicks that are being served into the box. There was one incident against Honduras when the cross came in and it looked like a couple of players missed their marking assignments and there were two white shirts in front of the goalie and the ball going out of bounds eventually, but that showed me that there was some missed assignments and we have to make sure we tighten up on those areas, because trust me, the US are going to scout and look for those weaknesses and they are going to try to exploit them."
He also feared that the US might try to exploit their height advantage in certain areas of the field.

"We have to maintain our team shape, make sure we don't get imbalanced in attack or defence. When in doubt we need to stay compact, then we need to basically utilise what we have as our biggest asset, which is our speed.

Whenever we get a chance where we can run at these defenders, when we get the through balls, utilising our speed in attack. Whenever there is a foot race we need to take them because they cannot beat us with pace," warned the man who has coached at the youth level, taking some teams through and up to the college level.

The man who would like to get involved in football in some capacity in Jamaica in the future, went with his heart in hoping for a Jamaican win, but he was mindful of the Herculean task ahead of the Boyz, not to mention history.

"Given the history one cannot really call it. The bottom line is the US has been going to the World Cup consistently since 1990 and we have only made it once, so we have to really look at them as the powerhouse in CONCACAF, even ahead of Mexico at this stage, to be honest with you.

"I look forward to a very competitive game. I would look to see us coming away with a 1-0 or maybe a 2-1 victory. That is really the hope and I am confident and hopeful that the guys can do it, but until we write the actual history you cannot say that this is the way you think it is going to end. The bottom line is we've never beaten the US at this level before, but with the confidence, the speed, the technical and tactical awareness of these guys I'm hoping for the best," concluded the man who has been coaching more recently at the local level with Jamaica Nats, a local amateur team here in Washington, DC made up of primarily former Jamaica national players.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz1PjRYD1ge