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Reggae Boyz under no pressure - Whitmore
Published: Saturday | October 8, 2011 Despite a streak which has seen them lose their last four matches, Reggae Boyz head coach Theodore Whitmore says his charges will not go into next Tuesday's friendly international against Honduras in Tegucigalpa under any great deal of pressure to deliver a win.
The coach was, however, quick to point out the importance of the team developing a winning habit ahead of next year's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, as well as ensuring that the team holds a decent position in the FIFA world rankings.
Jamaica began their spell of misery with a 0-2 defeat to the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, followed by losses to China (1-0), Ecuador (5-2) and Colombia (2-0).
Jamaica now sit at number 45 in the world after starting July at number 38 - the country's best position on the FIFA rankings since the successful 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign when the Boyz were ranked 32. Later that same year, Jamaica improved to its best-ever ranking, 27th.
"Every game is important but we have to exercise some patience and we have to look at the long-term objectives, and the long-term objective is September when we start our World Cup campaign," said Whitmore, following the team's training session at St George's College on Thursday.
"There is no pressure, we are building our team for that campaign and we are going to come up against tough opponents. So we will lose some and we will win some so we have to be patient and take it from there," he added. "Nobody wants to lose, especially with a federation like ours, where we want to stay up in the FIFA rankings so that we can get quality games."
ball possession
Whitmore is hoping that his players will show more patience in Tegucigalpa than they have in their last few assignments, and that they will protect the ball much better, given their higher-than-normal turnover rate.
"We have been focusing on patience and ball possession," said Whitmore. "In international football, you cannot give away the football too much and, especially in the last couple of games that we have played, we have seen a lot of turnovers so that is something that we want to correct going forward."
He added: "Against Honduras, as always, we expect a good performance from the team."
Jamaica and Honduras have played 17 games against each other with the Central Americans enjoying the edge in wins - with seven against Jamaica's six - and goals scored, having disturbed Jamaica's net on 21 occasions while Jamaica have scored 16 goals against them. Four of the games between the two have ended in draws.
Published: Saturday | October 8, 2011 Despite a streak which has seen them lose their last four matches, Reggae Boyz head coach Theodore Whitmore says his charges will not go into next Tuesday's friendly international against Honduras in Tegucigalpa under any great deal of pressure to deliver a win.
The coach was, however, quick to point out the importance of the team developing a winning habit ahead of next year's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, as well as ensuring that the team holds a decent position in the FIFA world rankings.
Jamaica began their spell of misery with a 0-2 defeat to the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, followed by losses to China (1-0), Ecuador (5-2) and Colombia (2-0).
Jamaica now sit at number 45 in the world after starting July at number 38 - the country's best position on the FIFA rankings since the successful 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign when the Boyz were ranked 32. Later that same year, Jamaica improved to its best-ever ranking, 27th.
"Every game is important but we have to exercise some patience and we have to look at the long-term objectives, and the long-term objective is September when we start our World Cup campaign," said Whitmore, following the team's training session at St George's College on Thursday.
"There is no pressure, we are building our team for that campaign and we are going to come up against tough opponents. So we will lose some and we will win some so we have to be patient and take it from there," he added. "Nobody wants to lose, especially with a federation like ours, where we want to stay up in the FIFA rankings so that we can get quality games."
ball possession
Whitmore is hoping that his players will show more patience in Tegucigalpa than they have in their last few assignments, and that they will protect the ball much better, given their higher-than-normal turnover rate.
"We have been focusing on patience and ball possession," said Whitmore. "In international football, you cannot give away the football too much and, especially in the last couple of games that we have played, we have seen a lot of turnovers so that is something that we want to correct going forward."
He added: "Against Honduras, as always, we expect a good performance from the team."
Jamaica and Honduras have played 17 games against each other with the Central Americans enjoying the edge in wins - with seven against Jamaica's six - and goals scored, having disturbed Jamaica's net on 21 occasions while Jamaica have scored 16 goals against them. Four of the games between the two have ended in draws.