Show your worth!
Reggae Boyz face Canada in crucial WCQ clash
Published:Sunday | October 10, 2021 | 12:08 AMAudley Boyd - Sunday Gleaner Writer
TODAY, for Jamaica’s senior men’s national football team, is a day of reckoning.
It is a day when they will have to put up their hand and, quite simply, play as hard as they can and do everything that is possible to prove their worth in this Concacaf World Cup qualifying (WCQ) competition by adding to their tally in a home match against Canada at the National Stadium in Kingston, beginning at 5 p.m.
Both contestants are coming off different results in their last game on Thursday, when the Reggae Boyz were beaten 0-2 by the United States and Canada fought back from a goal down to draw 1-1 away with Concacaf powerhouse Mexico at the Azteca.
Barring patches of play and the Costa Rica game that ended 1-1 in September, the Reggae Boyz have not looked the part in this campaign and were totally out of their depth in matches against Panama and the United States.
More than anything else, they have been horrible defensively, averaging two goals per game after conceding eight in four matches. The Jamaicans are buried at last place in the standings with one point and besides Honduras, who are second to last and have conceded five, none of the other six teams in the Hexagonal have let in more than three goals in the four matches played.
Among that half-dozen, Canada rank arguably the best based on their play, driven largely by their big player, Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies, who contributes in the portion of three to four players and made the assist for Jonathan Osorio to score against Mexico in their last match.
There is no great disparity in their head-to-head record, with Jamaica winning seven, Canada nine and six draws. What that may reflect, if one were to seek a positive for Jamaica, is an evenness to their clashes. But the locals must bring it to this game.
Teams have found it too easy breaking down the flanks with an overload and catching Jamaica short on numbers, paving the way for too many crosses. This is where a double central midfield combination should prove effective. Worse, in their last game against the US, the Jamaica team sat deep in defence, but still did not track and cover properly to prevent players cutting into the channels, from picking up possession and advancing.
Reggae Boyz head coach Theodore Whitmore and his staff will have to find ways to plug those gaps, possibly with a three-man central defence. But one way or the other, Jamaica must stop its goal haemorrhage.
SEVERAL PLAYERS OUT
Of course, the team is beset with other problems, including player availability and injuries. Several of the international players who were named to the squad withdrew at the eleventh hour, mainly through injury concerns; and on Thursday, full back Alvas Powell limped off the pitch towards the back-end of the game.
Commenting on the overall situation, Whitmore said his team must alter their play and ‘dig in’.
“We have to assess our team in terms of injuries, in terms of players out and so come Sunday (today) we have to do things a bit different,” he said.
“There are no easy games in this round, this is World Cup qualifiers and we just have to dust ourselves off, pick ourselves up and just continue to dig in,” Whitmore challenged.
Also, the Jamaica coach expressed belief that this group can deliver.
“I only can control what I have control over and that is the reality,” he said. “We might not get the desired result, but I still have confidence and faith in this group.”
Whitmore noted that local-based players will be added to boost their contingent, as Jamaica will not be able to add more international players to their roster for today’s game here and Wednesday’s in Honduras.
“I think we have passed the deadline to invite players, I think we have to give the clubs 14 days’ notice and so I think that any player that might be available will be our local players,” he said.
With the Jamaica Football Federation denied permission for spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jamaica midfielder Junior Flemmings says they have no room for error.
“Really and truly, we don’t have any more margin for error. We just have to get it right and we just have to turn things around,” said Flemmings, who will lead the charge for goals with Shamar Nicholson, Bobby Reid, Tyreek Magee and Jamal Lowe.