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Boyz look to rebound against Vietnamese
published: Saturday | June 23, 2007
Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica's Donald Stewart (left) fights for the ball with Indonesia's Ponaryo Astaman during their friendly soccer match at Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on Thursday. The Jamaicans, who lost 2-1, will play Vietnam tomorrow. - Reuters
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz will make a desperate bid to get their four-game friendly tour of Asia back on track when they face world 142nd-ranked Vietnam in a 7:00 a.m. encounter at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam, tomorrow.
Derailed by a shocking 2-1 loss to world 143rd-ranked Indonesia - a team 75 places below them in their first encounter - a now-rested Jamaica team must certainly be looking to put on a better performance against a youthful Vietnam squad.
In fact, Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl, who is looking to get his team into top gear ahead of the Asia Cup with tomorrow's friendly against Jamaica and then another against Bahrain two days later, has selected an unusually high number of 12 players from the Under-23 Olympic side in his current 23-man squad.
Vietnam had two wins and three losses in their last five games, including a 9-0 victory over Laos in December.
Struggling to find form
However, the struggling Boyz can take nothing for granted. They are yet to find their feet under new technical director, Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, andhave, in fact, now hobbled their way to a sore five-game winless streak and are currently riding a losing run in their last couple of friendlies.
The Jamaicans will hope to find their legs soon as the tour gets tougher when they face an experienced Malaysia team on the 28th and then three-time World Cup qualifiers Iran on July 2.
The 22-man local-based squad should be a bit sharper in this encounter and should have shaken off the jetlag from a 40-hour flight, which might have played a role in the first result.
In addition to that, the team should be bolstered by the return of Harbour View striker, Fabian Taylor, who will arrive ahead of the encounter, having left the island yesterday along with Reno's Keniel Moodie.
Taylor and Moodie were forced to return to the island to quickly sort out passport issues before rejoining the tour.
published: Saturday | June 23, 2007
Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica's Donald Stewart (left) fights for the ball with Indonesia's Ponaryo Astaman during their friendly soccer match at Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on Thursday. The Jamaicans, who lost 2-1, will play Vietnam tomorrow. - Reuters
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz will make a desperate bid to get their four-game friendly tour of Asia back on track when they face world 142nd-ranked Vietnam in a 7:00 a.m. encounter at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam, tomorrow.
Derailed by a shocking 2-1 loss to world 143rd-ranked Indonesia - a team 75 places below them in their first encounter - a now-rested Jamaica team must certainly be looking to put on a better performance against a youthful Vietnam squad.
In fact, Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl, who is looking to get his team into top gear ahead of the Asia Cup with tomorrow's friendly against Jamaica and then another against Bahrain two days later, has selected an unusually high number of 12 players from the Under-23 Olympic side in his current 23-man squad.
Vietnam had two wins and three losses in their last five games, including a 9-0 victory over Laos in December.
Struggling to find form
However, the struggling Boyz can take nothing for granted. They are yet to find their feet under new technical director, Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, andhave, in fact, now hobbled their way to a sore five-game winless streak and are currently riding a losing run in their last couple of friendlies.
The Jamaicans will hope to find their legs soon as the tour gets tougher when they face an experienced Malaysia team on the 28th and then three-time World Cup qualifiers Iran on July 2.
The 22-man local-based squad should be a bit sharper in this encounter and should have shaken off the jetlag from a 40-hour flight, which might have played a role in the first result.
In addition to that, the team should be bolstered by the return of Harbour View striker, Fabian Taylor, who will arrive ahead of the encounter, having left the island yesterday along with Reno's Keniel Moodie.
Taylor and Moodie were forced to return to the island to quickly sort out passport issues before rejoining the tour.