Panama strode to top of the group!

[Karl]

02/23/2013
Panama claims 1st place with Ramirez double

PUEBLA, Mexico - Amet Ramirez scored two goals for the second straight game and Panama defeated Jamaica 4-0 on Saturday to secure first-place in Group C at the 2013 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.
With the victory, the Canaleros put themselves in position to avoid a possible quarterfinal encounter against host Mexico, which will face El Salvador in a Group D match later in the evening. If the Mexicans win or draw, they will finish first in the group and will take-on Jamaica in the knockout phase.

The survivors of the four quarterfinal matches automatically qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey later this year.

Panama controlled large patches of the game, demonstrating the same patience as it did against Puerto Rico on Thursday by utilizing the width of the pitch at the Estadio Cuauhtemoc to its advantage. The Central Americans stretched the Jamaican defense by smartly switching fields on a regular basis, a tactic that created numerous openings in the middle.

The Panamanians produced the best of the first-half chances and the impressive Jairo Jimenez - a veteran of the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia - was at the center of all the action. His cross in 28th minute compelled Andre Lewis into a tumbling off-the-line clearance before Julio Segundo could get a touch on the ball.

Three minutes later, Jose Muñoz squared a free kick in Jimenez's path. The rising Chorrillo FC star took a shot that Jamaica goalkeeper Rashaun Patterson did well to tip over the crossbar.

Just before half-time, Ramirez netted his first goal.

Muñoz dribbled through a cluster of Jamaican defenders and slipped a short pass to a waiting Ramirez on the left. The 19-yeard-old controlled with his first touch and found the back of the net with his second to give Panama a 1-0 lead.

Kendan Anderson, scorer of two goals against Puerto Rico on Tuesday, nearly knotted the score four minutes after the interval, but his left-footed shot was saved with ease by Ivan Picart.

After that, it was all Panama the rest of the way.

In the 57th minute, Roberto Chen headed a long diagonal pass from the left into the Jamaican box for the unmarked Ramirez to stroke home calmly, giving him four goals in two games.

Jimenez created Panama's third goal in the 79th, deliverin
g a cross to Romario Piggott in the area. With not a single defender in the vicinity, Piggott had time to control, stop, take a glance at the goal and then slam a shot past an on-rushing Patterson.

To complete the rout, Jimenez netted a goal of his own six minutes from time. A quickly taken free kick was slid to Jouse Flores breaking towards the net. Flores got to the endline and sent a cross on the ground to Jimenez, who slotted the ball past Patterson.

Panama finished the group stage with two wins in two games, both by the same 4-0 score. The Canaleros will play either Mexico or El Salvador in a quarterfinal meeting on Wednesday.

http://www.concacaf.com/page/Under20...087051,00.html

[Karl]

Observer report:

U-20s to draw inspiration from senior Boyz' Azteca feat

HOWARD WALKER with the U-20 REGGAE BOYZ @ THE CONCACAF WORLD CUP PLAY-OFFS IN MEXICO
Monday, February 25, 2013

PUEBLA, Mexico — The Jamaican camp is left with a lot of introspection and soul searching following their demoralising 0-4 defeat to Panama on Saturday, a result which left them with the daunting task of facing regional powerhouse Mexico for a spot in the FIFA World Cup.

Jamaica's Under-20s, with three points, finished second in Group C to Panama but qualified for the quarter-finals where they will play host Mexico on Wednesday night, with the winner of that contest advancing to the FIFA World Cup in Turkey between June 21 and July 13.

PUEBLA, Mexico — Romario Jones (left) of Jamaica is tripped by a Panamanian opponent during their Group C match of the CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup Qualifying Championship at the Estadio Cuauathemoc here on Saturday.

PUEBLA, Mexico — Jamaica’s Paul Wilson (foreground) shields the ball from his Panamanian opponent during their Group C match of the CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup Qualifying Championship at the Estadio Cuauathemoc here on Saturday.

PUEBLA, Mexico —Jamaica’s Zhelano Barnes leaps to head the ball during their Group C match against Panama in the CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup Qualifying Championship at the Estadio Cuauathemoc here on Saturday. Panama won 4-0. (Photos: Luis Licona)

Having beaten Puerto Rico 4-1 last Tuesday, Jamaica met Panama in a top-of-the-table clash but succumbed to goals by Amet Ramirez (44th, 57th), Romario Piggott (79th) and Jairo Jimeniz, who played in the last FIFA World Cup in Colombia in 2011, completed the rout in the 84th minute.

Jamaica's Brazilian coach Luciano Gama was clearly disappointed and searched for words to describe his team's pathetic display.
"I can't say that anything worked... we had our game plan and we held the game until the end of the first half... we gave up a goal in the 45th minute.

"After that the team lost a little bit of balance but we wanted to win the game anyway and then conceded a lot of opportunities for counter-attacks and they used those opportunities and scored the goals," Gama explained.

"It is hard when you lose a game like that where nothing worked — technically, tactically and physically. It is difficult to bring the team together," he added.

With the quarter-final pairings decided, Jamaica will play Mexico; Panama take on El Salvador; the USA play Canada and Costa Rica tackle Cuba, with the four winners to qualify for the FIFA World Cup later this year.

Jamaica will have three days to refocus and get back on track before they enter the lion's den, with approximately 50,000 screaming home fans expected to be cheering on the host nation.

"We gonna start work with them today (yesterday) and let them know that anything is possible in football. We will start a game with Mexico which will be very, very hard because they have a good team, but we start 0-0 and nobody has that advantage," he added.

"It was a difficult game with the senior team here in Azteca as they showed that nothing is impossible," said the Brazilian.

As to how the players have reacted following the crushing defeat, Gama said he didn't speak with them after the game but has left them to do some soul searching before he addresses.

"We didn't talk to them yesterday (Saturday)... to leave them thinking about the game and put their heads in place again. We gonna talk to them before practice today (yesterday) and we will see how the group responds," said Gama.

"We gonna work a lot in the next two, three days to get the morale up again and show them that anything is possible," he reiterated.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2LwbD0jAq

[Me]

Romario Jones in the midfield had an excellent game. One of the few players who seemed to be able to keep up with the movement of the Panamanians and rarely turned over the ball. He will be extremely important against Mexico.

[World Fan]

Shame soh till

Depending on the 'performance' in the next game, some of these players may want to consider another route in life.

Don't mind losing, but not like that. They looked like a bunch of dunces. They are adults now.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...agent_13713901

[Bricktop]

Sounds like somebody got out coached...

[World Fan]

Rampwid puppy

was what they were doing with PR.

Everybody saw that and everybody saw us vs Panama.

[Karl]

Sounds like somebody got out coached...

Based on the 20+ minutes I saw there was nothing to outcoach. They were that clueless. I am thinking the only instructions a coach could have given would have been - Guys: We have to move faster. Get to the ball first....meet the ball! ...and remember we must always be running into space and passing quickly.

Anything more would have been a waste...in any case, much should have been done in "preparation"=training before arrival in Mexico. It appeared much was left undone!!!! Yup! They were that horrible on getting to the ball and possession.
. ...from what I saw it could have been at least 2 zip to Panama in those first 20 minutes!

In the Mexico match coming our players had better learn 'quick-quick' that getting to the ball first is key...and once getting to it, keeping possession=passing (quickly) and moving into support space always...crucial!

--- So getting to the ball first - winning many balls without having to tackle...and passing off in a snappy manner...ending with passing into goal (shot...good shot=clear sensible shot i.e. pass into goal) must be the way to go!!!

Moving and passing. passing and moving - possession is vital! ...but get to that damn ball first!

Aside: In those first 20 minutes many balls our players were tussling for should not have been...as our players should have been to those balls and passed it on long ago! The idea is not to pick fights that are not necessary. The aim is to receive ball with GOD ONLY BY MY SIDE!

[Bricktop]

Didn't watch the game...I was basing that off of this:

The Central Americans stretched the Jamaican defense by smartly switching fields on a regular basis, a tactic that created numerous openings in the middle.

[Me]

There was some level of out coaching. The Brazilians decided to switch from a 4 man back line to a three man back line. And the Panamanian wingers just exploited all the space. But they were just a disaster even when attempting to execute simple plays.

[Bricktop]

I don't know how you guys can watch Jamaica's youth football...it depresses me...

[Stonigut]

Wow again the first order is know yourself and then know your enemy, any scouting done on the panama prico game they would have seen that panama wing play, then on top of that they created an even greater wider thoroughfare for panama by employing 3-5-2, almost as bad as the polish army rolling out horses to fight the blitzkrieg, no this is worse we actually should have known our opponents strength and we decide to make it easier for them by creating more space for them on their attacks.

[Mosiah]

Well, the U20 coach is the same person who scouted Mexico's senior team and who was the talk of the town, by many of us on this Forum, perhaps inadvertently, after we almost beat that team in the Azteca.

[Karl]

Wow again the first order is know yourself and then know your enemy

Pan pint, sah!

...any scouting done on the panama prico game they would have seen that panama wing play, then on top of that they created an even greater wider thoroughfare for panama by employing 3-5-2, almost as bad as the polish army rolling out horses to fight the blitzkrieg, no this is worse we actually should have known our opponents strength and we decide to make it easier for them by creating more space for them on their attacks.

Stoni: As you know I do not believe in formations further than players standing in what the teacher/coach thinks is best postion to stand before the first ball is kicked...and what that teacher/coach thinks allows for the individuals at his command to provide defensive covering of the field (i.e. putting all the players on 1 side of the field would be madness as it screams an invitation for easy exploitation by opposing TEAM...therefore some type formation that provides 'all-field' coverage is "it").

It follows that nothing wrong with stating out standing in any formation....it is your players technical ability, tactical awareness, pace, physical strength that shall win the day.

In every area - technical ability, tacticl awareness, optimizing pace, physical strength - improvements can be made during 'teaching'=preparation.

If you are not well prepared chances of success...?

Our TEAM needs each individual to 'step up' in all areas. Those 20minutes against Panama that I saw showed on rating 1 through 10 where 10 is highest score all the players (omit the 'keeper) operating below 5!!!

Say it again - In each area each player in TEAM REGGAE YOUTH needs to step-up big time!

[Stonigut]

Ok, but many of us on this forum were calling for 4-5-1 well before the game, shutting down Mexico wing play which is a strength of their's, they exploit open space and rapidly adapt to the opponent response by switching from one open space to the one been created by the opponent response to the point of initial attack, the 4-5-1 it collapses space nicely especially when the wings are collapsing into defense as we saw with our two reading macs in that game they literally played outside right and outside left back.

So what could possess the coaches to play a 3-5-2 against an equal strength opponent and we know our mids are more offensive minded than defense minded thus where was the help supposed to come from in the area of the field that has the most space to exploit in the attacking half, wings, especially down the flank and to the side of the 18 is where the most open space is thus with speed the wing is probably the greatest and fastest point in attack, even though not the most straightforward, so when a team with good wing play faces a team with a back three, that s just more space and if the winger is faster than the back, is pure trouble and worse he has no help, this is simple stuff, strong points versus weak points, you exploit weak points and you try to dull strong points, in our case we addressed their strong point by creating a weak point, what is that like a double advantage.

I have always advocated an impenetrable defense philosophy, which always carries that back four and then mids that are also excellent defenders, players who are naturally hawkish and interceptors by nature without that you cannot control the midfield, control of the midfield is the actual real battlefront not the defense line, the defense is the rearguard, the midfield is where you win the heart and mind of the opponent, thus our tendency to select these silky smooth mids who don't want to get into the clash of mind and body on the d side means you put pure pressure on your defense and if you are using just three guys at back against a fast, speedy foe you can forget about it. Naturally hawkish interceptors are also fast and fundamentally skillful thus on the attack side it is counter on the gain of possession in the mids or possession ball and build if no clear opportunity exists. Build a team around this philosophy and hard core discipline approach and you have a World Cup concacaf contender on your hands every four years.

These are simple things it no require no degree, or coaching credentials.

[Stonigut]

Who were the guys that were playing the defensive mids role that should have helped in the new formation that was light in the back.