Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will continue their flagging campaign when they host Costa Rica in the 11th game of the CONCACAF Final Round World Cup Qualifying campaign today at Kingston’s National Stadium.
The game is set to kick off at 7:05 pm.
The teams had played to a 1-1 result in San Jose but have been going in the opposite direction recently.
Costa Rica is currently in fifth place on 13 points and still in contention for at least the fourth-place play-off chance, while Jamaica is on the verge of elimination with seven points in seventh place.
Canada leads with 22, followed by the US and Mexico on 18, Panama on 17, Costa Rica next, El Salvador on nine, and Honduras, long eliminated, on three points.
Elsewhere today, the US will look to bounce back from Sunday’s chastening 2-0 defeat to Canada when they welcome Honduras; Canada, who is strongly favored to break the 36-year wait for World Cup Finals appearance, travel to El Salvador, while Mexico gets the chance to open up a gap on Panama, who they host in the day’s last game.
Though elimination appears inevitable, Reggae Boyz head coach Paul Hall wants his team to give everything it has until there is no more hope.
“It’s not a great situation to be in, but we find ourselves in it now,” he stated during a press conference on Tuesday.
“I’d like to achieve, obviously, the win; it’s really important that the boys go out there and try to achieve the win. I think on both the previous games, we have tried to do that and come up short…we’ve had game management shortcomings. I’d like us to manage the game a lot better, especially if we go in front and manage the situation where we don’t allow teams to come back in it, so I’m looking for a performance. I’m looking for the team to manage the game better and improve in that area and just be a little bit more on the front foot.”
The coach explained that the team was positive in the initial stages of the last game but then allowed the opposition back in it, so now he wants them to be more confident and ambitious, especially playing at home.
He also hinted that there could be changes to today’s set-up, though he believes his technical staff has done everything to prepare the team for the last two games.
“Strategically, obviously, there are things that we can look at without letting out too much information to the opposition. Yes, there are things that we can change. We can change the shape and structure of the team. Also, we can change the personnel, so there are a lot of choices there for us.
“We want to give the players as much information as we can going into the game, and we just got to remind them that in both games they have gone ahead and that we want them to keep the same approach,” Hall concluded.
Jamaica started this FIFA Window on seven points and have lost at home to Mexico 2-1 and then away to Panama 3-2, giving up whatever slim chances they may have had. They are yet to register a win at home and are stricken by the number of late goals they have given up.
At the end of the 14-game series, the top three teams punch tickets directly to Qatar, while the fourth-placed team gets another chance via an inter-continental play-off.
Damion Lowe, who had been red-carded against Mexico last Thursday, has been given a two-match ban by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, while Liam Moore has returned to England to finalize his last-minute transfer to Stoke City from Reading.
Reggae Boyz team: Andre Blake, Ethan Pinnock, Kemar Lawrence, Andre Gray, Javain Brown, Devon Williams, Daniel Johnson, Lamar Walker, Ravel Morrison, Kevin Stewart, Bobby Reid, Cory Burke, Junior Flemmings, Michail Antonio, Dwayne Miller, Amal Knight, Gregory Leigh, Alvas Powell, Javon East, Peter Vassel, Richard King.
Concacaf Final Round World Cup Qualifying Points Standings
Teams P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Canada 10 6 4 0 17 5 12 22
USA 10 5 3 2 13 7 6 18
Mexico 10 5 3 2 13 8 5 18
Panama 10 5 2 3 14 12 2 17
Costa Rica 10 3 4 3 7 7 0 13
El Salvador 10 2 3 5 6 11 -5 9
Jamaica 10 1 4 5 9 15 -6 7
Honduras 10 0 3 7 5 19 -14 3
