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McAnuff eyes good result in Costa Rica

Published:Saturday | March 26, 2016 | 4:54 PMShayne Fairman
Jamaica's Joel McAnuff (right) dribbles by Costa Rica's Christian Gamboa at the National Stadium on Friday night during their CONCACAF semi-final round World Cup Qualifier. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Attack-minded midfielder Joel 'Jobi' McAnuff, who missed an easy scoring chance for the Reggae Boyz in their 1-1 draw with Costa Rica at the National Stadium on Friday night, says he wants to make amends in their return CONCACAF semi-final round World Cup Qualifier in San Jose on Tuesday.

The England-based McAnuff, one of the most influential players for Jamaica, especially in the first 45 minutes of Friday's game, collected a fine defence-splitting pass, but sent his shot high and failed to trouble the Costa Rica goalkeeper.

little disappointed

"Yeah, I just probably tried to put a little bit too much power into it rather than placing it and I am a little disappointed that I did not put that into the back of goal," he told journalists after the game.

McAnuff, however, stressed that everyone gave 100 per cent during the game and the Reggae Boyz had chances to win the game.

"We played them (Costa Rica) in the Gold Cup and we should have won that as well. We need to turn the 'should haves' into wins, and we believe we can do that," he said.

Historically, Jamaica's Reggae Boyz have it all to do in San Jose as they have never beaten Costa Rica at home, but McAnuff said they will fight to win on Tuesday.

"The group is getting stronger and we responded well to the goal on Friday. Maybe, in years gone by, we would have gone under and lost the game, but we held on and really made sure we were playing up in their half towards the end.

"We are going to be right there to the end and get the points we need," he stressed.

Jamaica are third in the four-team group with four points. Costa Rica lead with seven while Panama, also on four points, are ahead of Jamaica on goal difference. Haiti are at the bottom of the group on a point. Only the top two teams will advance to the final round.