It will be a battle of the cellar-dwellers at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano at 7:00 pm today as Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz and Honduras clash in the FIFA World Cup 2022 CONCACAF Final Round Qualifiers.
Honduras are seven with three points while Jamaica are eighth with two points.
The points standing show Mexico out front with 11 points followed by The US and Panama on eight, with Canada and Costa Rica on six and El Salvador on five.
At the end of the 14-game qualifiers, the top three teams on points secure automatic spots in Qatar next year, while the fourth-place team earns the right to an Inter-Continental play-off for another shot at Qatar.
For head coach Theodore Whitmore, it’s back to business hunting another win, a result which has eluded the Reggae Boyz so far after five games.
“The mindset is no different from the other games, we always approach every game with a positive mindset despite not getting the desired results, but the mindset has always been to be positive to get results,” Whitmore told the media yesterday.
And after showing some real intent with a clean sheet on the defensive end while creating af ew opportunities at the other, the coach and his support staff are hoping that the players can build on that effort, through the remainder of the campaign.
“I don’t want to use the last game as a turning point because I think these players always go out there and give their all and for me, it is just some areas that we need to work on and one of the things on Sunday was that we wanted teams to stop scoring on us and we achieved just that, so I think it is something we can build on now.
Stop bleeding and look to convert at the other end,” he said.
“It is about digging deep, stop thinking about what our opponents are doing and more about what we want to do. We respect all our opponents but we are in a position now where we want results and we need to turn the one point into three points.”
For this window of games, Whitmore has had to juggle his players as injuries and withdrawals have badly weakened his team, and though it’s a concern to him, he believes whoever he puts on the field will give his all to get the desired result.
“It’s always a concern when we have injured players and players suspended; we are unbalanced at the moment in terms of personnel and positions but we have warriors here, real soldiers here and it doesn’t really matter who we put out there tomorrow (today) everybody has to go out there and give 110 per cent and get the job done.”
According to reports coming out of Honduras, the authorities have granted permission for the football body to sell 20,000 tickets in the 37,000 capacity, but it is believed that due to the team’s poor results to date, the tickets are not being taken up at the usual rate.
In other games today, the US host Costa Rica at 7:00 pm; Canada host Panama at 7:30 pm and El Salvador are at home to Mexico at 10:05 pm.
