Whitmore demands better from Boyz

National Senior men’s football team head coach Theodore Whitmore will be hoping for a better performance from his team when they face Costa Rica tomorrow in their final match of Group C in the Concacaf Gold Cup.

The Boyz sit second in the group behind Costa Rica on goal difference after two straight wins against Suriname and Guadeloupe. Jamaica and Costa Rica have already booked their spots in the quarterfinals, and tomorrow’s match will decide the teams’ seeding in the knockout rounds.

Whitmore says that despite the wins, the team has not been playing at its best so far in the competition.

“In the second half, I think our team was a bit relaxed,” he said. “We didn’t manage the game, we didn’t press our opponents, and we allowed them to play in the game, and that’s how I sum it up,” Whitmore said after the Suriname fixture on the group’s open day last Monday. “The good thing is that we did not concede tonight, and that’s some of the positives I could take from the game.”

It was more of the same after the Guadeloupe match, and Whitmore said that the team made the fixture far more difficult than it needed to be.

“This is not the kind of performance we expected from the guys, nonetheless, the result is more important,” he said after the Guadeloupe game. “I don’t think the team played up to expectations tonight. The team allowed the Guadeloupe team in the game. The intensity, I think we were lacklustre. We made it difficult for ourselves. It wasn’t Guadeloupe who made it difficult for us.”

IMPROVEMENT PLEASE

Jamaica have qualified for the knockout stages for the fifth campaign in a row, and Whitmore also made history when he became the manager with the second most-coached matches in the Gold Cup with 20 games as Jamaica’s head coach, five less than Bruce Arena, who coached the USA for 25 Gold Cup matches.

Despite this, Whitmore is more focused on the Gold Cup title and hopes for an improved performance from his team going forward.

I don’t even remember about the records. My focus now is on the Gold Cup,” he said. “Again, it’s a wonderful feeling that one can achieve another milestone in his coaching career, and it’s something to look forward to.”

The Jamaica Football Federation has also provided an update on the player in the camp who twice tested positive for COVID-19.

Team doctor Bersha Cole says the player is still in isolation and is doing as much physical exercise as possible to stay fit. Cole says he will be tested, with the rest of the delegation, again today as part of the mandatory testing regimen a day before matchday.

If the player returns a negative result, Concacaf will be contacted. The regional body will then decide the next course of action regarding how many additional tests he requires, and when they will be done.

Cole says the player, who has been asymptomatic, is in good spirits and eager to return to the group.

Jamaica will face Costa Rica tomorrow at the Exploria Stadium and will then take on either Canada or the USA in the quarterfinals.

- Gregory Bryce