Boyz need to improve offensively – Jureidini

Football analyst Clyde Jureidini believes that the Reggae Boyz’s 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica in an international friendly in Costa Rica on Tuesday, right on the heels of their 2-0 loss to El Salvador in their final Concacaf Nation’s Cup game on Saturday, is a major setback for the national side.

Keysher Fuller Spence netted the game’s only goal 28 minutes into the contest to give the host country the win.

Although Jureidini thought the team’s performance improved greatly from the El Salvador match, he believes that the team still needs a lot more work on offense if they are to meet their potential and objectives.

“Both results are disappointing. Our offense continues to be disappointing, and that was the reason we are in the position that we are in. Of the other (Nations Cup) teams, we scored fewer goals and had a lesser goal difference. All the other top countries won by four, five, and six goals. Even Bermuda, Curaçao, Suriname and Guyana are scoring more goals than us, and that is really where it is. We don’t just want to be strong in defence and counter-attack. We have to be strong in possession and attack and score goals heavily,” he said.

Jureidini noted that he still observed many deficiencies despite an improvement in the second game.

“In the second game (Costa Rica), we moved to a different formation with a mind to get goals. We were more in possession, we were more assertive and we were creating half chances, not real chances, so that is still lacking and we still didn’t score.

“But it was an improvement from what I saw (against El Salvador), but the end game and shots on goal are still lacking, and that is what we have to look on going forward.

More CreativityNeeded

“With our strong defensive game, we have to create more passing, moving, creating, and scoring goals,” Jureidini said.

He added that relying solely on the counter-attack has limited the team’s ability to break down teams and score goals consistently.

“This is a new game that we are exposed to. We didn’t expect to lose to El Salvador. We expected our defence to hold up and it was the first in a long time it has let us down.

“But you can’t defend alone, you have to defend, keep possession, penetrate, and score goals and we need to be more aggressive and more coordinated in attack.

“So it not just good to win, and win handsomely. you have to be pushing every game to the limit to score as much as you can because you don’t know what is happening to the other games around you,” he added.