Under-17 Boyz coach Gilchrist keeps faith despite losses
FOLLOWING consecutive defeats, Jamaica Under-17s face a most crucial encounter against Bermuda knowing they can’t afford to lose their final group match at the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Match time is 5:00 pm.
Jamaica are pointless after suffering 0-1 and 2-3 defeats to Mexico and Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), respectively, and need only a draw to advance to the next round having a better goal-difference than Bermuda which lost 0-5 and 1-3.
The top-three teams in each group will advance to the round of 16, where they are joined by the four teams advancing from the qualifying round.
Jamaica’s Head coach Hopeton Gilchrist remains optimistic.
“All in all, we are still in with a chance. All we need is a draw against Bermuda, but we are not settling for a draw, we will be going out for the win,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Jamaica lost their opening game narrowly to regional powerhouse Mexico, but were expected to brush aside T&T, but instead they crashed 2-3 and left themselves in a hole in Group E.
Cristojaye Daley had given Reggae Boyz a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute, but the Soca Warriors responded with a pair of goals from Jaiye Sheppard (34th, 60th) and Justin Araujo-wilson (44th). Jamaica fought back and Isaac Scott scored in the 90+3 minute.
“We made some plans for the Trinidad game. Trinidad made some changes and we tried to adjust during the games,” Gilchrist explained.
“We started better in the Trinidad game than the Mexico game... we were a bit more settled, but we failed to capitalise on some opportunities that we got and some players failed to follow simple instructions. Hence, giving up some easy opportunities to Trinidad,” lamented Gilchrist.
Jamaica were without Orret Maine for the last match after he got injured in the first and the coaching staff are working overtime to have him ready for today’s encounter.
“There will be a few changes in the starting line-up... we have watched the Bermuda team and we see how we need to approach the game. The thing is every Caribbean team will play Jamaica harder than every other game,” noted the head coach.
“We will be pressing high to get that opening goal and tempo the game as it progresses. They already know what is expected in the final prelim game so we are not daunted by what happened in the previous games,” said Gilchrist.