‘For 20-odd years we have been going nowhere’
Hall not worried over winless start to tenure, looks towards development
Published:Sunday | March 20, 2022 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott - Gleaner Writer
DESPITE GOING winless after his first four matches in charge of the Reggae Boyz, coach Paul Hall does not paint a worried picture.
Hall, who took over from Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, during the heights of the Concacaf World Cup qualifying campaign in December, has lost all three qualifying games thus far, along with a friendly international against Peru.
However, the former Reggae Boy, who declared that the team is now in a rebuilding phase, insists that winning is not the main focus at the moment.
The ex-Portsmouth and Coventry player is aware that not winning games could lead to a call for his job. Still, he is focused on constructing a team that will be competitive over a long period.
To do that, Hall believes he cannot be overly concerned about results going his way in the early stages.
LONG-TERM GROWTH
“It is nice to try and win a game of football but this is not about that. This is about rebuilding. It is about trying to structure the way forward. If you do not win games in football then you will have a problem with people trusting you with their team. So it is important to win games because it feels nice.
“If we lose a few games in the early days then fine, and if people say Hall should go because he lost a couple games, then fine.
“But my job is to develop football in Jamaica and help the young players coming through, and I want to be judged on how much I can grow Jamaica’s football in the long term,” he said.
Hall’s main focus at the present is to look at the pool of players available to him and try to build a strong unit.
Last week there was a three-day local training camp with 18 players, from which Hall will select the remaining players for his final 23-man squad for the upcoming World Cup qualification matches.
Sixteen players have already been named to the squad.
The coach has also taken special interest in the under-20s and has been working closely with coach of that team, Marcel Gayle.
“It is good to get the players back together and help them to understand the philosophy a bit more, and the more they get familiar as a group then we will see if you can win some games.
“But it is not about me winning games in the early days. It is about having longevity, a future and setting a foundation that we can grow from here and grow with some of these players,” he continued.
The Reggae Boyz face El Salvador at the National Stadium on Thursday, then Canada away on the 27th, before returning home for their last game of the qualifiers against Honduras on the 30th.
Hall admits he would like to win all three games, but even if he fails to get the desired results, he is certain there will be positives he can take away and move forward.
“I am looking for a squad of people who can try to win these games first and foremost, and that is why we have (senior) 16 players.
“It is nice to win a game of football but you can win in other areas. If you said we lost against Costa Rica, we didn’t lose because we found Richard King, a 20-year-old who has undoubted potential. So that is a win for me and that is where the wins are now.
“For 20-odd years we have been going nowhere and now we want to go further ahead. So, yes, we want to win games but we got to know what is important. We need to draw a line and make sure that we see improvements,” he added.