Interim Reggae Boyz head coach Merron Gordon and captain Adrian Mariappa have lauded the players for their decent showing which helped the team to a 1-1 result against Qatar in their friendly international inside the Wiener Neustadt Stadium on Friday.
The game closed out the four-team tournament organized by the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar, as part of their preparations for the global showpiece event slated to kick off on November 20.
“The technical staff really planned this out, in terms of tactically how we are going to approach this game. I think we got it tactically right, the last time (against Morocco) we just were unfortunate so we know as long as we can build on that game against Morocco we could get it right today,” shared Gordon at game’s end.
Jamaica took the lead in the 70th minute when Jordain Fletcher scored, only for Khaled Muneer to find an equalizer with seen minutes remaining.
Gordon, who was asked to guide the team alongside Vassell Reynolds, added: “Probably with a little more concentration we wouldn’t give up that goal and we probably would have won the game. And with a little bit more luck and for the transitional play, too, we might have scored more goals, but it’s very good, this Qatar team has all the resources in the world, we are an emerging country in terms of football and for us to come here and compete against them like this today it shows grit and determination from the boys.”
The FIFA World Cup Finals will be played in the Middle East for the first time and Qatar have been busy preparing their team.
They played out a 2-2 result with Morocco in their first game on Saturday, before defeating Ghana 2-1 in their second game in a tournament restricted to locally-based players.
Qatar had started their preparations in June with a camp in Spain followed by another camp in July in Austria where they played a number of Europeans clubs.
Gordon explained a bit of the tactics employed to achieve the result on Friday.
“We know that coming to this tournament we don’t have the legs to press for 90 minutes, so we said we are going to press in spurts, when the time arises, we are going to set traps with the press and I think we got that right also today.
“We fell back in our medium block most of the time because we know that balls over the top wouldn’t hurt us because we have speed at the back to chase.”
Jamaica opened with a 0-3 loss to Morocco on Tuesday and played a game less as their scheduled fixture against Ghana was cancelled after the Africans arrived late.
Veteran player Mariappa reflected on the game.
“We started okay, they created some chances, which we expected them to do, caused us problems in the first half but I thought we dealt with it well, the problems they gave us and tried to work it out on the pitch, which is what these games are for, about learning and growing.
“I think we just grew into the game and then got a little bit of belief that we could play and then we created some chances of our own and I thought the goal was brilliant. That’s as good a team goal as I have seen with the national team and it shows that with a bit of composure there is quality there and we can hurt teams, so it’s just about building from here and we are not going to get ahead of ourselves because at the end of the day it’s a draw.”
