Boyz blanked by Soca Warriors

The long, barren spell continued for Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz following a 1- 0 loss to rivals Trinidad and Tobago at the Montego Bay Stadium last night.

The latest result stretched the Jamaicans winless streak to 12 games, and continued a run of poor results that saw the team finish at the bottom of the Concacaf Hexagonal zone in a failed attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil next year.

In an uneventful first half, Ataulla Geurra gave the Trinidadians, who recently surged past their neighbours in the FIFA World rankings, the lead as early as the 5th minute. Guerra profited from some slack defensive work on the path of the home team to net from close range.

A youthful- looking Reggae Boyz struggled to find a way back into the encounter from there on, often foiled by inaccurate passing and a lack of incisiveness in the final third.

The team did, however, manage to put together a more fluent and sustained spell of possession in the second half and managed to carve out a few opportunities in the final 20 minutes.

The best of them fell to substitute Micheal Seaton. After coming on early in the second half Seaton managed to get his boot on a cross headed in his direction by strike partner Darren Mattocks, but the young striker saw the 76th minute attempt cleared off the line by a watchful Trinidad defender.

National head coach Winifred Schäefer, while disappointed with the result, believed it was a good opportunity for several of the young and local players in the squad.

“The second half was good. We played a lot better than in the first half, especially the first 10 minutes where we were nervous and kept losing the ball,” Scaefer said.

“I said before, this is a chance to give the young players and the local players a chance. We can’t blame them like players from Real Madrid and Barcelona.”

The Jamaicans depart the island for Trinidad and Tobago, where they will begin preparation for the second leg of the encounter next Tuesday in Port of Spain.