Mental toughness needed to get past Concacaf rivals - Flemmings
Jamaican forward Junior Flemmings said the Reggae Boyz will have to show remarkable mental toughness if they are to come away with positive results when they face regional bigwigs Mexico, Costa Rica and the United States in three of their first four final-round games in the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers slated to kick off next June. The Reggae Boyz, one of the five automatic qualifiers for the final octogonal (final) round, are set to open away against Mexico. They will go up against one of the group winners at home before facing Costa Rica away and then United States away, and Flemmings said the players’ mental toughness will be crucial if they are to come out smiling from this daunting run of games.
“They are three really good football countries and they have a lot of experienced players competing at the top level. So it will all come down to the mentality of our players and how much we want it,” said Flemmings.
“Once we do that, once the team has the right attitude and is tough mentally and we work consistently together, I think we will be good,” he reasoned.
Although he admitted that playing against these three Concacaf giants away from home so early in the qualifiers will be no easy task, he is confident the Reggae Boyz are capable of going into the backyard of these teams and come away with positive results.
“Most of them (other teams’ players) I know them, we play against them and see that they are humans like us. But it doesn’t matter how good you are, if you don’t turn up to play and if you fail to prepare you are going to fail. Nothing is guaranteed and if you are not willing to sacrifice, if you are not willing to put the team first and work for the country, it is not going to work,” he continued.
The Phoenix Rising forward said the Reggae Boyz squad has some real top quality players available now, while noting that the camaraderie and togetherness is great. He believes that once they start training and playing more matches together they will get even stronger and better.
“Once we can spend a couple months together, you will see a big difference in how we play and go about doing things. But the key factor is spending a lot more time working together,” he said.
Flemmings, who was part of Theodore Whitmore’s team that reached the Gold Cup semi-finals last year, said he is one player that is prepared to do anything or willing to play any role the coaching staff requires..
“I played numerous positions in the Gold Cup and wherever the coach wants me to get the job done, I am open to it, because if you want to represent your country you have to do what is best for the team and not for you as an individual. But just to put a smile on everyone’s (Jamaica football supporters) face should be very pleasing (for any national player),” he added.