Tweet
Montesso: A time for introspection
SEAN WILLIAMS with the Reggae Boyz @ THE CARIBBEAN CUP IN ANTIGUA
Friday, December 14, 2012
DEEP BAY, Antigua — While expressing profound disappointment with the horrible football the Reggae Boyz put on show at the ongoing CFU Caribbean Championship, assistant coach Alfredo Montesso said the immediate response is self-examination.
Having played woeful football in a tournament that Jamaica were expected to dominate being the defending champions, they were duly but humiliatingly eliminated from the preliminary stage after suffering shock defeats to French Guiana (2-1), Cuba (1-0) and earned a solitary point in 0-0 draw with group winners Martinique.
MONTESSO... we paid the price for lack of concentration
1/1
"I feel really bad as nobody wants to lose and nobody planned to end the competition this way and I am very disappointed... I think first we missed our concentration, especially in the first game and we paid the price... throughout the tournament we are always behind in games," said a remorseful-sounding Brazilian.
He said while it's a difficult time for the players, the technical staff and the wider JFF family, the stage is set for deep analytical work to craft a path going forward to CONCACAF final round World Cup qualification set to kick off away to Mexico at high altitude on February 6.
"It's a very difficult time for us now, but we will have time to put some extra work, not only with the team, but to analyse player-by-player as we have to move on from what we had here. The hard work now is to analyse what we did and hopefully we can take the good points going forward," he said after the team meekly bowed out of the competition following the loss to Cuba on Wednesday.
He said from a team lacking shape, "concentration" and in questionable physical shape in three games of disastrous football, there was one bright spark.
"Alvas Powell did well in a very difficult tournament when the team was not that organised," Montesso told Jamaican reporters as he gave the 18-year-old Paul Bogle High student high marks in his mature rendition at the heart of defence in two games.
Montesso warned that in assessing the performance of some players from whom a lot was expected, the matter cannot be knee-jerk approach.
"I think we have to be careful, I don't want to use this as an excuse, but first we have to analyse the moment of the players, we have to analyse that all the players in the MLS just finished a competition and I don't believe that they were in the best physical condition.
"Sometimes when we saw our team on the pitch you could see some quality, but we could not see the shape and the same things we saw in the games against the United States at home and against Guatemala (World Cup qualification) even though we lost that game... we did not see the same fitness condition.
"It's very disappointing (the way some of the players did) but we have to be calm to analyse everything or we are going to throw everything in the garbage that we have done so far and I don't believe that we have to reach that stage right now," noted Montesso, who has had an enduring relationship with Jamaica's football since glory years of his countryman, the colourful Rene Simoes.
Of 23 players here, the coaching staff headed by Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore, used as many as 21. From the first match there were four changes, and for the death-defying Cuba match where the Boyz needed a win to advance to the semi-final, six were made.
The logic, according to Montesso, was two-fold — one, the coaching team was in a desperate search to find an effective combination, and secondly, they wanted to expose as many players as possible.
"For the condition that we met these players in, we knew we had to rotate them in this competition, as we had planned for five games, and based on their condition we know we couldn't keep them for more than two or three games straight, so this is why we made the rotation.
"On the other side of the coin the rotation also served to expose as many players as possible, to give them the opportunity to show themselves in high pressure situations," Montesso explained.
Only goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett and Ewan Grandison did not taste action. But many of whom who got their chance failed to rise and put in the fight.
Based on their potential and promise, Jermaine Hue, Xavian Virgo, Lovel Palmer, Jermaine Anderson, Keammar Daley, and Darren Mattocks in particular did not show up.
But also importantly, some local-based players in particular showed timidity and lacked a sense of belonging, which combined with all the other negative factors, resulted in Jamaica playing perhaps the worst football in the tournament, scoring one goal and conceding three. They are the only team not to have won a game.
Martinique, the group winners, runners-up Cuba, and even the eliminated French Guiana showed superior organisation and technical astuteness, with Jamaica shamefully lacking in both areas.
Missing out on the Gold Cup, argued Montesso, will indeed impact on the technical programme going forward.
"I think it will affect us a lot because it's important to have every opportunity to get the team together and play, this is something we really desire. I believe now we will have to get some games to get the team together.
"We went to the UK and we met some players there and we want to see how early we can get them before so we can get some chemistry with the team... we have to now spend time discussing, looking at what we have and what we can put together," he said.
In today's semi-final, Martinique are down to face Group A runners-up Trinidad and Tobago, while Cuba take on Haiti.
Full squad: Duwayne Kerr, Dwayne Miller, Jacomeno Barrett, Shavar Thomas, Alvas Powell, Montrose Phinn, Dicoy Williams, Lovel Palmer, Demar Phillips, Ricardo Gardner, Andrae Campbell, Xavian Virgo, Rohan Reid, Jermaine Hue, Keammar Daley, Jason Morrison, Lamar Nelson, Tramaine Stewart, Jermaine Anderson, Ryan Johnson, Omar Cummings, Darren Mattocks, and Ewan Grandison.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2EycWYlIZ
SEAN WILLIAMS with the Reggae Boyz @ THE CARIBBEAN CUP IN ANTIGUA
Friday, December 14, 2012
DEEP BAY, Antigua — While expressing profound disappointment with the horrible football the Reggae Boyz put on show at the ongoing CFU Caribbean Championship, assistant coach Alfredo Montesso said the immediate response is self-examination.
Having played woeful football in a tournament that Jamaica were expected to dominate being the defending champions, they were duly but humiliatingly eliminated from the preliminary stage after suffering shock defeats to French Guiana (2-1), Cuba (1-0) and earned a solitary point in 0-0 draw with group winners Martinique.
MONTESSO... we paid the price for lack of concentration
1/1
"I feel really bad as nobody wants to lose and nobody planned to end the competition this way and I am very disappointed... I think first we missed our concentration, especially in the first game and we paid the price... throughout the tournament we are always behind in games," said a remorseful-sounding Brazilian.
He said while it's a difficult time for the players, the technical staff and the wider JFF family, the stage is set for deep analytical work to craft a path going forward to CONCACAF final round World Cup qualification set to kick off away to Mexico at high altitude on February 6.
"It's a very difficult time for us now, but we will have time to put some extra work, not only with the team, but to analyse player-by-player as we have to move on from what we had here. The hard work now is to analyse what we did and hopefully we can take the good points going forward," he said after the team meekly bowed out of the competition following the loss to Cuba on Wednesday.
He said from a team lacking shape, "concentration" and in questionable physical shape in three games of disastrous football, there was one bright spark.
"Alvas Powell did well in a very difficult tournament when the team was not that organised," Montesso told Jamaican reporters as he gave the 18-year-old Paul Bogle High student high marks in his mature rendition at the heart of defence in two games.
Montesso warned that in assessing the performance of some players from whom a lot was expected, the matter cannot be knee-jerk approach.
"I think we have to be careful, I don't want to use this as an excuse, but first we have to analyse the moment of the players, we have to analyse that all the players in the MLS just finished a competition and I don't believe that they were in the best physical condition.
"Sometimes when we saw our team on the pitch you could see some quality, but we could not see the shape and the same things we saw in the games against the United States at home and against Guatemala (World Cup qualification) even though we lost that game... we did not see the same fitness condition.
"It's very disappointing (the way some of the players did) but we have to be calm to analyse everything or we are going to throw everything in the garbage that we have done so far and I don't believe that we have to reach that stage right now," noted Montesso, who has had an enduring relationship with Jamaica's football since glory years of his countryman, the colourful Rene Simoes.
Of 23 players here, the coaching staff headed by Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore, used as many as 21. From the first match there were four changes, and for the death-defying Cuba match where the Boyz needed a win to advance to the semi-final, six were made.
The logic, according to Montesso, was two-fold — one, the coaching team was in a desperate search to find an effective combination, and secondly, they wanted to expose as many players as possible.
"For the condition that we met these players in, we knew we had to rotate them in this competition, as we had planned for five games, and based on their condition we know we couldn't keep them for more than two or three games straight, so this is why we made the rotation.
"On the other side of the coin the rotation also served to expose as many players as possible, to give them the opportunity to show themselves in high pressure situations," Montesso explained.
Only goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett and Ewan Grandison did not taste action. But many of whom who got their chance failed to rise and put in the fight.
Based on their potential and promise, Jermaine Hue, Xavian Virgo, Lovel Palmer, Jermaine Anderson, Keammar Daley, and Darren Mattocks in particular did not show up.
But also importantly, some local-based players in particular showed timidity and lacked a sense of belonging, which combined with all the other negative factors, resulted in Jamaica playing perhaps the worst football in the tournament, scoring one goal and conceding three. They are the only team not to have won a game.
Martinique, the group winners, runners-up Cuba, and even the eliminated French Guiana showed superior organisation and technical astuteness, with Jamaica shamefully lacking in both areas.
Missing out on the Gold Cup, argued Montesso, will indeed impact on the technical programme going forward.
"I think it will affect us a lot because it's important to have every opportunity to get the team together and play, this is something we really desire. I believe now we will have to get some games to get the team together.
"We went to the UK and we met some players there and we want to see how early we can get them before so we can get some chemistry with the team... we have to now spend time discussing, looking at what we have and what we can put together," he said.
In today's semi-final, Martinique are down to face Group A runners-up Trinidad and Tobago, while Cuba take on Haiti.
Full squad: Duwayne Kerr, Dwayne Miller, Jacomeno Barrett, Shavar Thomas, Alvas Powell, Montrose Phinn, Dicoy Williams, Lovel Palmer, Demar Phillips, Ricardo Gardner, Andrae Campbell, Xavian Virgo, Rohan Reid, Jermaine Hue, Keammar Daley, Jason Morrison, Lamar Nelson, Tramaine Stewart, Jermaine Anderson, Ryan Johnson, Omar Cummings, Darren Mattocks, and Ewan Grandison.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2EycWYlIZ
