Jamaica’s head coach, Carl Brown, commended his team’s performance following their crucial 1-0 victory over Canada, keeping their World Cup hopes alive. "The team played according to plan," Brown said, noting that it took time for Jamaica to settle into their game but, once they did, the result seemed inevitable. Looking ahead to the next match against Costa Rica, Brown emphasized the importance of securing back-to-back wins, calling these games "critical" for Jamaica’s World Cup campaign.

Published Monday, September 8, 1997

JA fry Canada

By Audley Boyd

JAMAICA put themselves firmly back in the race for a World Cup berth at the National Stadium yesterday with a 1-0 victory over Canada.

England-based forward Deon Burton, who played well for his adopted country, scored the all-important goal that lifted the home team to a well-deserved triumph over a team they had never beaten.

Carl Brown, Jamaica’s head coach, said after the game: ’I believe the team played well. I believe they played according to plan. We expected the Canadians to play as they did. We took a very long time in the first half before we started to play but as soon as we got our game going, I believe it was clear that it’d be just a matter of time before the goal came.’

It was Jamaica’s sixth game in the six-nation elimination from which three countries will advance to next year’s finals in France. Before yesterday’s contest, the locals were bottom-of-the-table on five points, equal with Canada, while Mexico (11), Costa Rica (eight), the United States and El Salvador (six) completed the rankings.

The front-running Mexicans and El Salvador were idle yesterday while the United States registered a 1-0 home win over Costa Rica that lifted them to second on nine points, one ahead of Jamaica who are now tied for third with Costa Rica. However, the Costa Ricans, who have played seven games, have a superior goal average going into Sunday’s game against Jamaica at the National Stadium.

“I believe these are two critical games,” Brown said of the back-to-back schedule.

"We've gotten this one behind us and we’ll spend a little time and really think about it, soaking up the joy of beating the Canadians at home. We have a tough one next week at home against the Costa Ricans. We really want to win these two. We think these two are critical games in our World Cup campaign.’

Nearly 40,000 people jammed the stadium beyond its 35,000 capacity and their cheers reached a climax in the 55th minute when safety-first defender Linval Dixon lifted a pass over the opposing team’s back line for Burton - who recently joined Derby from fellow English First Division club Portsmouth - to cannon a shot across Craig Forrest for his first goal in national colours.

Forrest had kept Canada in the game with a number of excellent saves, particularly in the last hour when the searing sun wore down their fitness and effectively shut down their capability to compete equally.

The Canadians had performed well in the first half hour, making some promising attacks, spearheaded by Tomasz Radzinski down the left.

Canada’s coach, Bob Lenarduzzi, said: ’I think that in the first half hour we were able to limit the Jamaicans. But as it drifted closer to the half, we wilted and they began to take over.

“I’m very very disappointed. My only consolation is Costa Rica losing. The third-placed team now has eight points, we have five and we’re going to Costa Rica and we really need a victory there. But we’re still good shape,” he said.

In the most competitive period, the first half hour, Jamaica struggled to get a strong offensive game in motion, even though they went closest to scoring when close-up efforts from Burton, then Paul Hall, who struck a rebound which deflected off a defender and on to the goal post in the 18th minute.

Gradually, the full backs started getting more space to operate on the flanks and interchange positions, which became more common in the second half. This effectively weakened Canada’s defence through the problems it posed for marking and Jamaica broke through for good scoring opportunities on at least four occasions.

For Sunday’s game against Costa Rica, Brown said: “We’ll be doing a whole lot of work. We’ll be working on our finishing, we want to get two goals. We feel that if we can get two goals in each game that we should be able to win the matches.”

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