Reggae Boyz ready for new-look Mexico

Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says the Reggae Boyz are prepared to face whichever selection of players placed before them as Jamaica take on Mexico in their Copa America opener today.

Mexico are expected to field a rotated squad throughout the tournament. However, Hallgrimsson said regardless of which players take the field, he still expects a fierce battle from the Mexican opponents.

According to Hallgrimsson, Mexico will stick to their usual attacking and direct style of play regardless of player selection.

“Mexico will always be Mexico, it is the same style of play no matter who is playing,” he said. “There is a little rotation in their squad but I think the playing style will be the same. They are aggressive, they are direct, they have really fast players and really skilled players, so we will need to be compact if we want to get results.”

Hallgrimsson said despite the rotation in the Mexican squad, he is knowledgeable on the size of the challenge ahead of the fixture.

One main challenge will the presence of Mexican team captain Edson Alvarez who is expected to pull the strings from the midfield.

Alvarez is also the teammate of Reggae Boy Michail Antonio, with the pair representing English Premier League club West Ham United.

NO WEAKNESS IN TEAM

“I don’t know if my scouts talked to Antonio about him but we watch the English League quite a lot, so we know a lot about the players that are playing in England,” he explained. “Like all the other players, we have been watching more or less every individual in the squad for the last few months. We know them quite well and there is no weakness in this Mexican team.”

Jamaica enter the tournament on the back of two straight victories in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers after defeating the Dominican Republic and Dominica respectively.

Mexico, on the other hand, have lost two of their last three games following a 4-0 drubbing by Uruguay and a close 3-2 defeat by Brazil.

However, Hallgrimsson said the team’s form will not play a factor in today’s fixture as Mexico’s losses came against some of the best teams in the world.

“Looking upon the opponents they have been playing lately, they lost against the US, they lost against Brazil and Uruguay, so it’s maybe not the worst teams to play against. It was all good games, all hard-fought games so they come here knowing what they need to do.

“I don’t think losing against Brazil will take a lot of confidence away from Mexico,” he added.