New Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is under no illusions that his team faces a Herculean task in Tuesday’s friendly international against Argentina, one of the favorites to lift the FIFA World Cup in Qatar starting in November.
The Icelandic coach, who is also a Dentist, told the media on Monday that facing Argentina in his first game in charge would not have been his preference. Still, he’s accepted that fact and is now eagerly awaiting the contest to get answers as to the material he has at his disposal to try and qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Canada, USA and Mexico.
Kick-off is slated for 8:00 pm (EST) inside the Red Bull Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.
The Lionel Messi-led Argentina are riding a 34-game unbeaten streak as they engage in their last match before the start of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
They brushed aside Honduras 3-0 in Miami last Friday, thanks to a brace from their mercurial technical leader, who notched his 88th international goal in 163 games.
Listed number three on the FIFA Coca-Cola Ranking behind Brazil and Belgium, Argentina would like to close off preparations in final style and it is up to Hallgrimsson and his Reggae Boyz to try to give a good account of themselves.
For Hallgrimsson, this game represents a test for his players and his main interest is the answers which will be revealed at the end.
“I’m just anxious to see them play a real match against one of the strongest teams in the world – today I would guess Argentina is one of two, three teams most likely to win the World Cup – so just to have this opportunity to play one of the best in the world is interesting for a coach because we will have a lot of answers and these answers will guide me what to do in the future,” noted the 55-year-old coach on Monday.
He was also quick to accept that the “answers” might not all be positive, though “I hope they will be”.
Hallgrimsson had been in Jamaica for a few weeks but he and his technical staff have had only two days with the squad in New York ahead of the game and for those two sessions he says he has devised a plan he hopes will be good enough to stymie the slick South Americans.
“We have some principles that we really want to emphasize in this match against Argentine. Now it wouldn’t have been my first choice for our first game and especially with such a short time for preparation, but this is the fact, so we embrace it,” he said.
“We know that it’s not in our hands, probably, the tactics we would like to do are not solely in our hands, we have to adapt to what Argentine is doing.
“By statistical calculations from their matches the last year, two years, is that they have a majority of possession, they high press, so I think we can kind of predict how the game will be played, so overall a good feeling, but we have some principles we would like to see tomorrow (Tuesday) done well, but first and foremost against a team like Argentina to play with power, to play with unity, as one unit, that is a must if you want to get a result against a good team.”
Hallgrimsson says he’s scrutinized the players in this squad and he was happy with the defensive session they practiced on Sunday when they implemented “Some basic things what we need to do against Argentina”.
He says he has been looking at the players and options and rotating a little bit, so now he has an idea of how the team should play.
“The balance between attack and defense is also what we think is necessary against a team like Argentina to not over commit in attack and also not to over commit in defense, then we would be defending the whole time, so it’s a delicate balance,” he noted with a degree of pragmatism.
The coach says that the past two days have been productive as the technical staff has tried to impart as much information to the players without overloading them with too much data. “It’s always a risk to overload with the info, so we’ve tried to be selective on what we want to change re information to give to the players.
“We have done what we planned to do for this match, of course, it’s never enough time when you play a team like Argentina, but I think we have used our time well, the players have been very receptive, happy and the atmosphere is really good, so I cannot be anything but happy with the two days here in New York.”
