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BOYZ DODGE BULLET AGAINST ANTIGUA
The Reggae Boyz went into Antigua to take on the Benna Boys in World Cup Qualifying and must be thanking their lucky stars that they came away with a 0-0 draw that could have easily have been much worse. After dominating Guatemala at home just over a week ago and winning by two goals to one, Jamaica would have got just enough confidence to go into Antigua expecting at the very least, a repeat performance and coming away with the full three points.
What they found however, was a very cohesive unit coached by Tom Curtis that could have easily come away with a crucial home win.
The Reggae Boyz for the most part looked disorganized. Among the things that were absent was the slick passing that for the most part we saw in the second half against Guatemala; the kind of passing that saw Jamaica dominating possession and creating chance after chance to score.
Inexplicably, Jamaica only managed to score one goal at the start of the second half against their Central American rivals as they hit the crossbar twice and had the Guatemalan keeper busy for the remainder of the match pulling off save after save.
Scoring has always been Jamaica’s problem. The team rarely scores heavily. This I believe comes from a collective mindset of being satisfied with very little. So in those rare instances when the team dominates another, Jamaica is likely to come away with a marginal one or two-nil win. Jamaica’s most recent results include one-nil and three-nil victories over Cuba, a 3-2 win against New Zealand, 0-0 against Costa Rica, back to back defeats 0-1 and 1-2 against Panama and 2-1 over Guatemala. That’s 8 goals for in six matches while conceding five goals. What that means is that we score just over a goal a match while conceding almost a goal a match.
In my view the team lacks that killer instinct to put teams away by overwhelming them with a deluge of goals that not only kills them off but breaks their spirit as well for future encounters. That suggests that for any game Jamaica plays the other team always seems to have a chance. That is exactly what happened against Antigua on Tuesday night.
Antiguan strikers Peter Byers and Timarley Thomas between them got several opportunities to score against Jamaica’s uncertain defence on Tuesday night. Byers especially, had a few good chances and in one instance almost caused Demar Phillips to score an own goal. Yes, Luton Shelton hit the upright mid-way through the second half but for to any objective observer Antigua could easily have come away with a 3-1 win. In that light Jamaica was lucky.
The luck stayed with Jamaica after the match ended as the United States who are atop the group by virtue of goal difference over Jamaica even though each team has four points, managed to concede a late goal and drew 1-1 with Guatemala. Had the US won they would have been two points clear and seeing that they are easily the strongest team in Group A, would have put Jamaica at a distinct disadvantage considering that we play them next here at the national stadium. Now, at the very least Jamaica goes into its encounter against the US level on points.
The bottom line is that Theodore Whitmore and his coaching staff have to thanks their lucky stars for poor shooting of the Antiguan strikers and a leaky US defense or else their World Cup campaign would have been off to an even rockier start.
http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=1326
The Reggae Boyz went into Antigua to take on the Benna Boys in World Cup Qualifying and must be thanking their lucky stars that they came away with a 0-0 draw that could have easily have been much worse. After dominating Guatemala at home just over a week ago and winning by two goals to one, Jamaica would have got just enough confidence to go into Antigua expecting at the very least, a repeat performance and coming away with the full three points.
What they found however, was a very cohesive unit coached by Tom Curtis that could have easily come away with a crucial home win.
The Reggae Boyz for the most part looked disorganized. Among the things that were absent was the slick passing that for the most part we saw in the second half against Guatemala; the kind of passing that saw Jamaica dominating possession and creating chance after chance to score.
Inexplicably, Jamaica only managed to score one goal at the start of the second half against their Central American rivals as they hit the crossbar twice and had the Guatemalan keeper busy for the remainder of the match pulling off save after save.
Scoring has always been Jamaica’s problem. The team rarely scores heavily. This I believe comes from a collective mindset of being satisfied with very little. So in those rare instances when the team dominates another, Jamaica is likely to come away with a marginal one or two-nil win. Jamaica’s most recent results include one-nil and three-nil victories over Cuba, a 3-2 win against New Zealand, 0-0 against Costa Rica, back to back defeats 0-1 and 1-2 against Panama and 2-1 over Guatemala. That’s 8 goals for in six matches while conceding five goals. What that means is that we score just over a goal a match while conceding almost a goal a match.
In my view the team lacks that killer instinct to put teams away by overwhelming them with a deluge of goals that not only kills them off but breaks their spirit as well for future encounters. That suggests that for any game Jamaica plays the other team always seems to have a chance. That is exactly what happened against Antigua on Tuesday night.
Antiguan strikers Peter Byers and Timarley Thomas between them got several opportunities to score against Jamaica’s uncertain defence on Tuesday night. Byers especially, had a few good chances and in one instance almost caused Demar Phillips to score an own goal. Yes, Luton Shelton hit the upright mid-way through the second half but for to any objective observer Antigua could easily have come away with a 3-1 win. In that light Jamaica was lucky.
The luck stayed with Jamaica after the match ended as the United States who are atop the group by virtue of goal difference over Jamaica even though each team has four points, managed to concede a late goal and drew 1-1 with Guatemala. Had the US won they would have been two points clear and seeing that they are easily the strongest team in Group A, would have put Jamaica at a distinct disadvantage considering that we play them next here at the national stadium. Now, at the very least Jamaica goes into its encounter against the US level on points.
The bottom line is that Theodore Whitmore and his coaching staff have to thanks their lucky stars for poor shooting of the Antiguan strikers and a leaky US defense or else their World Cup campaign would have been off to an even rockier start.
http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=1326
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