Monumental!

LOCAL COACHES are calling the Reggae Boyz 3-2 win over Canada, in their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final at the BMO field in Ontario on Tuesday, a monumental victory, and are waxing lyrical about the team’s stunning second-half performance, turning around a 2-1 deficit from the first leg.

The game drew 4-4 on aggregate and the Boyz qualified on the away goal rule.

Humble Lion coach Andrew Price and former Waterhouse and Tivoli coach, Calvert Fitzgerald, praised coach Heimir Hallgrimsson for switching centre back Damion Lowe to central midfield, while crediting the Philadelphia Union player for being the catalyst in the Boyz phenomenal second-half comeback.

“I thought it was a great effort. A monumental achievement,” said Price. “After leaving the office (National Stadium) on Saturday afternoon, where we were left very disappointed, the Boyz went into a very cold and hostile environment and performed creditably.”

Price, a former national defender with more than 30 years’ coaching experience, said it was one of the best second-half displays he has seen from the national team, but noted it all started with Lowe stepping into midfield.

“The second half was one of the best that I have seen from a Jamaican team in a long time. We really took the game to them.

“I said that, for us to beat Canada, we have to go at them, and the tactical change inserting Lowe in midfield was the catalyst for the change in the game.

“We also saw that, when a player is playing consistently week in week out for his club, he can gain confidence, and we saw that from Shamar Nicholson, where he scored two peaches of a goal to draw Jamaica back into contention.

“I spoke to Shamar after the first-leg game. I said ‘you will have to score two goals’ and he said it looks like that is what he had to do, and it seems as if he willed it into being. He was able to get two goals that greatly assisted us. But Lowe played a monumental role. He was the catalyst for getting some aggression in the midfield,” he pointed.

Fitzgerald thought the first half was a typical Jamaica first half under coach Hallgrimsson, but admired how they took the restraints off for the second half and exploded into life.

“The first half was the typical, protecting our goal, playing tight defensively and seeing if we can break on the counter. In the second half, we played to our strengths.

“We are fast, aggressive people and we like to take chances. It is in our DNA to be aggressive, but we are somewhat indisciplined and we need a coach to temper that.

“But, in the second half, we were allowed to be ourselves. We did run at them. We attacked relentlessly and took chances and it paid off for us,” he said.

He, too, credits Lowe with inspiring the turnaround.

“It really started in the second half with Lowe. He really started the charge. He put a lot of energy in the game, a lot of effort. He willed the team forward and everybody just picked up the energy off him.

“We really played an aggressive second half, and some good football as well, and we didn’t play on the back foot. In the second half, we definitely played on the front foot, and it paid off.”

Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Michael Ricketts said the Boyz showed exceptional character to get the result they needed.

“We are so proud of the effort and determination demonstrated by the team throughout the game.

“They fought so hard with their backs against the wall, a true example of the character that the country needs to tackle any adversity we may encounter,” he commented in a JFF release.

The win over Canada placed Jamaica in the Concacaf Nations League semi-finals and ensured a berth to the prestigious Conmebol Copa America for a third time.

It was also Jamaica’s first win ever over Canada, in Canada, and Jamaica’s third-ever victory over a North American team in North America.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com