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SAN JOSé, Costa Rica:
Rodolph Austin did some serious running Tuesday night in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying football game.
The big Jamaican midfielder covered almost every blade of grass on the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica (Costa Rica National Stadium) pitch, trying to help his team win the ball from their Central American counterparts, who won 2-0.
As he explains, however, an imbalance in the Reggae Boyz midfield caused him to do more running than he had to.
Working so hard
"We talked about it before the game (tracking in midfield), that one of the strikers should come back and help, but that wasn't happening. It was me and Marvin (Elliott) alone, three versus two, and they were floating. Sometimes I'm just trying to help someone else," said Austin, noting a factor that had him working so hard many times without success as Costa Rica cleared easy passage through midfield, especially in the first half.
Alfredo Montesso, the Jamaica team's assistant coach, explained the imbalance developed because the flank midfielders weren't consistently adjusting.
"In the second half, we did much better," said Montesso, who was suspended from the bench after being ejected in the Panama match.
"We spoke with them and we asked McCleary (Garath) and McAnuff (Jobi) to get more involved because sometimes we saw that the midfield is empty, but what happen is that the coordination between the two wings (is not right). When the ball is in the opposite side, they have to get inside to compose and release the other gate, so they were not doing that.
"In the second half, especially Austin and Marvin (Elliott), they centralised themselves much better in the middle of the pitch, and then we were able to control that movement in there."
More control
With that restriction on Costa Rica, Jamaica exercised more control in midfield, but could not score, despite creating openings.
"We beat ourselves," said Austin, who rifled a 35-yard free kick that was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Keylor Navas diving to his left in the first half.
"We played a good game in some phases, but we gave up two goals and we've to be disappointed. We can't want to go to the World Cup if we play like this.
"We're not scoring and, if we're getting chances and not scoring, then we can't win. Goals win games," he admitted.
"But we're not here to point fingers at each other, we just have to accept the fact that we lost.
"It's a team thing and we've already talked about it. We still can qualify, we have the team to qualify, we just have to help each other, support each other, and as I said before, we can't kill each other, we just have to go out there and work hard now," he said.
Rodolph Austin did some serious running Tuesday night in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying football game.
The big Jamaican midfielder covered almost every blade of grass on the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica (Costa Rica National Stadium) pitch, trying to help his team win the ball from their Central American counterparts, who won 2-0.
As he explains, however, an imbalance in the Reggae Boyz midfield caused him to do more running than he had to.
Working so hard
"We talked about it before the game (tracking in midfield), that one of the strikers should come back and help, but that wasn't happening. It was me and Marvin (Elliott) alone, three versus two, and they were floating. Sometimes I'm just trying to help someone else," said Austin, noting a factor that had him working so hard many times without success as Costa Rica cleared easy passage through midfield, especially in the first half.
Alfredo Montesso, the Jamaica team's assistant coach, explained the imbalance developed because the flank midfielders weren't consistently adjusting.
"In the second half, we did much better," said Montesso, who was suspended from the bench after being ejected in the Panama match.
"We spoke with them and we asked McCleary (Garath) and McAnuff (Jobi) to get more involved because sometimes we saw that the midfield is empty, but what happen is that the coordination between the two wings (is not right). When the ball is in the opposite side, they have to get inside to compose and release the other gate, so they were not doing that.
"In the second half, especially Austin and Marvin (Elliott), they centralised themselves much better in the middle of the pitch, and then we were able to control that movement in there."
More control
With that restriction on Costa Rica, Jamaica exercised more control in midfield, but could not score, despite creating openings.
"We beat ourselves," said Austin, who rifled a 35-yard free kick that was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Keylor Navas diving to his left in the first half.
"We played a good game in some phases, but we gave up two goals and we've to be disappointed. We can't want to go to the World Cup if we play like this.
"We're not scoring and, if we're getting chances and not scoring, then we can't win. Goals win games," he admitted.
"But we're not here to point fingers at each other, we just have to accept the fact that we lost.
"It's a team thing and we've already talked about it. We still can qualify, we have the team to qualify, we just have to help each other, support each other, and as I said before, we can't kill each other, we just have to go out there and work hard now," he said.
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