Jamaica face Guadeloupe with quarter-final spot in mind
ORLANDO, USA — Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will be seeking to book their spot in the quarter-final of the Concacaf Gold Cup when they face desperate Guadeloupe in their Group C encounter at Exploria Stadium here today.
The game kicks off at 6:30 pm (5:30 pm Jamaica time). In the second fixture of the double-header, leaders Costa Rica take on Surname at 9:00 pm (8:00 pm Jamaica time).
By virtue of their 3-1 win over Guadeloupe on Monday night, Costa Rica go into today’s match as group leaders on goal difference.
The Boyz, in the meantime, occupy second spot following their 2-0 victory over Suriname, also on Monday. Suriname and Guadeloupe will be hunting their first points today.
But the Jamaicans go into the contest rattled by a positive COVID-19 test result of a player.
Yesterday, the players and staff had undergone a series of testing to clear them for both the final training session and the match.
Head Coach Theodore Whitmore says while every player is important in the push for a good showing in the tournament, he does not expect the drama of the past 24 hours to impact the business on the field.
“Any player at this particular time will be a loss, but we have other players who can come in and make their contribution.
“[Obviously] it is not a situation that they are going to take lightly that there is a missing puzzle to the link, so it is our duty this afternoon [yesterday] to get these players up and running and to change their mental aspect of how they view the situation,” Whitmore said.
That aside, the coach was satisfied with how preparation for the Guadeloupe match has progressed over the past couple of days. Yesterday, they mainly focused on set pieces and a few tactical rehearsals.
“I think we have had a pretty good preparation, and now that we have gotten the Suriname game out of the way, we are looking forward to our second game against Guadeloupe which is more important, and that is not to say that every game isn’t important,” said the team’s lead tactician.
Whitmore, an outstanding performer for Jamaica at the France ’98 World Cup, said the strategy is to plan for each game, with the hope that the players deliver positive results.
“What we want to do is to take it one step at a time, and we are looking for a positive result against this Guadeloupe team,” he noted.
Whitmore, a former Tranmere Rovers and Hull City standout, said the Guadeloupe team should be respected despite their loss to Costa Rica. In four meetings, the Boyz won three and the other was a drawn game.
“This French team is very technical, and they are different from the Suriname team we played…they have good technical players, so we are preparing accordingly,” he said.
In the match against Suriname, Whitmore was forthright in his criticism of how the team conducted itself in the overall performance.
His disappointment was mainly with the fact that the Boyz did not maintain a grip on the game for the entire 90 minutes, allowing their hold to loosen in the final stanza after taking a 2-0 half-time lead.
Charleroi striker Shamar Nicholson opened the scoring as soon as the sixth minute, while Fulham attacker Bobby Reid closed the first 45 minutes with a blinder of a volley.
Though he hopes to see improvement in this area, Whitmore is aware it won’t be a quick fix.
“There is not a lot you can do over a couple of days, but I think we have done enough as we have gone through [tactical] stuff over the past two days as we look for an improved performance.
“We have to take a couple of things into consideration as Guadeloupe have been playing games, and the Suriname game was our first game together, so the cohesiveness and the chemistry wasn’t there [in the first game].
“But I guess the further we go in the competition, the more we will improve,” he said.
In response to a question of whether there was pressure to deliver a win which would propel the team to the quarter-final round, Whitmore brushed the idea aside.
“We want to remain positive, and I think we have a bunch of guys who can get the job done, so full speed ahead,” he shot back.
Also, Whitmore was concerned with how the defensive midfield pair of Fulham’s Michael Hector and Preston North End’s Daniel Johnson would hold up their end of the bargain.
But on review, both players have not played for a spell for their clubs and were playing the first game as a duo for Jamaica, so they were seen to be lacking match practice and chemistry.
“We have two players [Michael Hector and Daniel Johnson], but most of the players haven’t played together, and as I have said before, the cohesion will always be a problem, but I guess game by game, we will improve,” he reasoned.
On the front line, Whitmore has demanded more from his match-winners.
“I think we need to be more clinical in and around [the 18-yard box] as we have to take a number of things into consideration in this tournament. For sure, goal difference is one of them and means a lot, so we must continue scoring goals and try not to concede,” he said.
Based how the team trained yesterday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, Captain Andre Blake will tend goal, with Damion Lowe and Liam Moore reprising their roles in the heart of defence.
Alvas Powell, meanwhile, looks a shoo-in for his customary position at right-back, while Amari’i Bell will play out left.
In the middle of the park, which has been a concern for the coach, Devon Williams and Daniel Johnson trained in there.
From the first game, the flanking midfield pair of Leon Bailey (right-side) and Blair Turgott look set to get the nod once again.
Up front, the “twin towers” of Cory Burke and Nicholson appeared to be the coach’s picks for the demolition job upfront.
But the coach could be forced to explore other options depending on what challenges await the team ahead of kick-off.