Hallgrimsson: Burke was replaced because he was injured

Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says he was forced to withdraw substitute Corey Burke late in Thursday night’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against the USA because the player was injured.

Hallgrimsson raised eyebrows among local fans who watched the contest when he replaced Burke in the first period of extra-time with Romario Williams.

Burke had only entered the game in the 73rd minute when he came on for Renaldo Cephas. With Jamaica leading 1-0 up until added time and about to hold on for a famous victory, Burke could only help Miles Robinson’s near post header into his own goal, to break the hearts of the Jamaicans.

As a result, when the player was taken off in the 102nd minute, many observers assumed his own goal was the reason for the substitution.

However, Hallgrimsson revealed that it was because of an injury he picked up.

“I think he pulled a hamstring or groin in one of the sprints. But there were a lot of tired legs, so it was a necessary change to take him off. He pulled something in his groin,” he stated.

He also thought the extra minute that was added to stoppage time, after the fourth official had initially signalled four minutes, was trivial.

“When the corner came it was already the five minutes that they gave. I don’t know why (extra minute was added) but if you compare the first half and the second half, I thought we had a few more stops in the first half than the second.

“But it is just an opinion from a sore loser to say this. This is football and at this level sometimes it is down to margins.

“Can we improve these margins? We have a lot of areas we can improve on as an organisation. It just hurts to lose the game in this manner. So yes, I would like to blame someone but this is football,” Hallgrimsson said.

He also thought speedy winger Renaldo Cephas fitted into their game plan perfectly on the night.

“We felt we were doing many things well (in the match). It is always comfortable to be leading a game. But we needed to tweak something in defence, so we changed Cephas and Jamal Lowe’s position and it worked out.

“Cephas had probably the best chance in the game. There are not many players that have his speed, so it worked well because there were a lot of space in behind the US defensive line,” Hallgrimsson said.