Win by at least two or go home!

[Stonigut]

Hole just got a little deeper but at least we did not lose so we still in it.

Always this last minute business.

1. So Ja beat Cuba and Martinique beat Fg is one option, clean and simple. Most likely!
2. Second option is fg beat Martinique then we need to win by two versus Cuba to get better gd. Not likely!
3. Mart and fg draw and Ja win, mart on five and ja and fg on four so gd is decider, need to beat Cuba by two maybe one as Cuba beat them by two I believe so they would end with more goals scored on them than they scored if they draw with Martinque so in this scenario Ja would just need to beat Cuba. Possible!
4. There is no 4th option, Cuba draw or Cuba win! Go home and lick wounds, prepare for turmoil!

[Bricktop]

[Karl]

Boyz must beat Cuba or go home

Boyz must beat Cuba or go home
Desperate Ja try to rescue Cup dream
SEAN WILLIAMS with the REGGAE BOYZ @ THE CARIBBEAN CUP IN ANTIGUA

Wednesday, December 12, 2012


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2Er5gtHPB

DEEP BAY, Antigua — There is a sense of dread here as the Reggae Boyz will attempt one of the greatest escapes of their football existence when they try to salvage a CFU Caribbean Championship campaign thrown in a tailspin after a loss and draw left them rooted at the bottom of their fourteam group with one point.

They must defeat a rallying Cuba this evening at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium if they hope to defend their title, and more importantly, to secure a berth at next summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup scheduled for the USA. Game time is 7:00 pm (6:00 pm Jamaica).


Jamaica’s Jermaine Anderson (right) prepares to take on Martinique’s Nicholas Zaire during their Caribbean Cup football game in Antigua on Monday. The match ended 0-0.
1/1

Martinique are clear leaders of Group B on four points, following their 1-0 defeat of Cuba in their opening game on Saturday and a tough 0-0 draw against 10-man Jamaica on Monday.

Cuba and French Guiana are ahead of Jamaica on three points apiece, with each registering a win and a loss. It was French Guiana’s 2-1 win over the Boyz that put the latter in the awkward position they now find themselves.
Cuba, meantime, came from behind to clip French Guiana, 2-1, in Monday’s opener of a double-header to throw the “group of death” wide open.

The scenario for Jamaica, mildly put, is a grave one. The back-to-back champions of the regional crown no longer have the property of fate in their own hands and will hope for a miracle that they can defeat a stubborn old rival in Cuba and hope the French showdown in the curtain-raiser will see Martinique come out victorious.

Jamaica, who have played suspect football in this tournament even with the perceived superior talent within their ranks, could also squeeze through to the semi-finals if a draw occurs in the opening game — but that would put them under increased pressure to win by at least two clear goals.

However one looks at it, Jamaica are in a dark corner.

Colorado Rapids striker Omar Cummings, who has come off the bench in the first game, said the camp is in a positive mood and everyone is aware of the job at hand.

“I don’t think we are in panic mode, but we have recognised that this is a game of great importance, also the importance of getting to the Gold Cup.

“We are also aware that it wouldn’t look good if we were to come out of the tournament in the first round as defending champions,” he noted. He said the game plan today has to be “all positive”.

“We have to take more shots and put the balls into dangerous areas,” said Cummings.

The former Rivoli United man believed the team did not execute to its potential in the two previous matches. “We could have had better control and intensity. I don’t think we attacked the games as we know we can,” he noted.

Monday’s draw served as a sequel to their opening-round defeat as the players seem to be lacking in desire and a sense of mission. Their commitment to the cause has also been questioned, but assistant coach Alfredo Montesso had a contrary diagnosis to the problem, pinpointing instead “a lack of motivation and concentration”.

The Brazilian said the players had improved in Monday’s game and showed a lot of “heart”.

“I think the team improved a little bit… I think they were composed and even when we went down to 10 men, we never turned to the philosophy to play defensively… I think they have been playing with a lot of heart,” said Montesso, Theodore Whitmore’s assistant.

For tonight’s game, the Brazilian strongly believes the team will play better.

“I believe for the Cuba game we are going to be better… I remember in the World Cup we had to wait on another result and we have to keep that in mind…

“We have to keep focus and concentrate and hope that we will continue to improve game by game and hope it will be enough to beat Cuba and get the number of goals we need,” Montesso told Jamaican reporters here.

With the exception of Ricardo Gardner, who could replace the reliable Demar Phillips who fell victim to a second yellow card in Monday night’s encounter, the starting team should be the same.

And a beach session at the hotel property yesterday in lieu of the traditional field exercise indicated that Dwayne Miller, Shavar Thomas, Montrose Phinn, Lovel Palmer, Alvas Powell, Jason Morrison, Jermaine Hue, Darren Mattocks, Tramaine Stewart, and Jermaine Anderson have been entrusted to carry the fight once again.

With the Boyz — the only Caribbean team still left in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament — flirting with first-round elimination from the ongoing tournament, JFF boss Captain Horace Burrell is far from impressed and is on the march.

He did not wish to comment on the precarious position of the team at this delicate stage, but a late-night impromptu meeting with staff here in the lobby of the Royal Grand Antiguan hotel after Monday’s game summed up his mood.

Burrell’s fears, it seems, lie in the alarming possibility of the team not making the semi-finals, which is their only guarantee of making the coveted Gold Cup and an ideal stage on which to parade as they seek to secure a berth at the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil .

Though the campaign may be in doubt at this juncture, Whitmore said before a ball was kicked that he came to play five games. If the Boyz can be inspired to play to their full potential here and win in style tonight, the France 1998 World Cup star could still be in business.

It would be the mother of all comebacks, but in football, anything is possible.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2Er4lHTIe

[TheDread]

If Tappa start that same team sans Philips then many of you calling for his head may get your wish.