Boyz confident ahead of second friendly
FOLLOWING A win against Trinidad and Tobago in the first of two friendlies on Friday, Reggae Boyz assistant coach Merron Gordon is confident the team will produce a positive showing in their second today at the Larry Gomes Stadium in the twin-island republic.
Kaheim Dixon’s debut goal in the second half was the decider in the first friendly against Trinidad and Tobago.
After the match, Gordon said he was pleased with the performance by the players and he is confident the team will have another good showing today. According to Gordon, the team has met the objectives set for it by the coaching staff.
“Playing against Trinidad is always a good practice game, two very competitive nations,” he said.
“We have 13 debutants, a debut player in 19-year-old Kaheim Dixon scoring, what more could you ask for? I think the objective today was met so we need to just recover the boys and keep them pushing and hopefully we come back on Sunday and give an excellent performance.
“I think the tempo was international tempo, you could feel it, especially in the last 10 minutes of the first half, you could see some of the guys’ legs going in the first half because the tempo was really high. We just need to build on these local boys and hopefully, they can integrate into the first team easily.”
GOOD EXERCISE
Sitting directly across from the Jamaican technical area, Trinidad and Tobago head coach Angus Eve said the friendlies, so far, have proven to be a good exercise for this team.
Trinidad are using these matches as preparation for their upcoming play-in fixture against Canada for a spot at the 2024 Copa America.
Eve said the players’ inexperience was the reason behind his team’s defeat and said as the players continue to play at the international level, their performances will improve.
“I thought it was a great exercise for the guys. If you look at the starting team, we had about six or seven players who were uncapped, so we need more exercises like this to expose these guys and give them the opportunity because they have been doing well in the league.
“I think we lost our shape as the game went along and we probably as a group panicked a little bit but that’s natural when you have players who are not accustomed and have not been under that type of pressure before, they tend to make simple errors. Even in the goal, it was a simple one ball that beat the whole backline when we should have been deeper.”
Jamaica will face Trinidad at the Larry Gomes stadium in Arima, Trinidad, at 3 p.m. Jamaica time.