Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says his charges are on the right trajectory despite a chastening 3-0 drubbing by a second-string Mexico In their CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final match on Wednesday.
With a spot in Sunday’s final inside the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, Mexico got off to a bright start and shocked the Jamaicans inside 80-odd seconds when Henry Martin powered his team ahead.
Luiz Chavez made it 2-0 in the first half before substitute Roberto Alvarado piled on the misery on the Jamaicans, who were second-best throughout.
“I think the future for the Jamaica National team is bright if we do it in the correct way and continue to do it in the correct way,” Hallgrimsson told the media in a post-game press conference.
“Let’s give Mexico a big credit today [Wednesday], I think they were much fresher than us on the day to be fair and congratulations to Mexico for qualifying for the final match.”
Jamaica opened their account in Group A against the title holder and hosts the US and jumped into an early lead via a Damion Lowe header. However, Leon Bailey squandered a grand opportunity to double the top ranked Caribbean side’s lead when he had his penalty saved by Matt Turner, and was left even more devastated when he turned the rebound wide of an unguarded goal.
The US eventually pulled level with a late equalizer.
Jamaica then defeated Trinidad and Tobago 4-1 before rounding out group play with a 5-0 hammering of St Kitts and Nevis.
In the quarter-finals they faced Group D winner Guatemala and Amari’i Bell found a second half winner to punch Jamaica’s ticket to the semi-finals, and repeat of the 2017 edition when Kemar Lawrence converted a late free-kick to sink Mexico and book Jamaica’s ticket to the final.
“I think we grew as a team, we know more about each other both on the pitch and off the pitch. I think that is a good experience for us, to have spent almost five weeks together, like from 10 days in pre camp for the Gold Cup, so they have learnt more about me and my strengths and weaknesses and we have learnt about the players.
“And then partnerships within the team have grown, so it’s hard to say after a loss like this that we have improved as a team, but I’m going to say it anyway.”
From as early as the second minute it became evident that the Jamaicans were up against a wall, as Martin converted with a left-footed shot from inside the penalty box as Jamaica was caught out by a lightning counter-attack.
It came after Michael Antonio was felled in the Mexican defending third and the Jamaican free-kick sparked the counter-attack from which the Boyz never recovered.
On the half hour mark Chavez converted a stupendous free-kick which left goalkeeping captain Andre Blake scrambling inside his side netting and as Jamaica pushed forward seeking that elusive goal in the second half, Alvarado tapped home in the third minute of time added to seal the comprehensive victory of what appeared to be boys against men.
Hallgrimsson gave his reflection on the contest.
“For us it was always tough to concede a goal in the first minute [2nd], so it’s kind of a slap in the face to have it and it comes after our set-piece they break forward and score.
“Then it took us sometime to grow into the game because it was such a blow and it was not according to the game plan, of course, you don’t plan to concede in the first minute.
“The second goal is again from our set-play and they have a break up the pitch and have a free-kick and the goal [on tv] it was a fantastic shot and it’s hard to say we could have done anything with that free-kick, so 2-0 at halftime and a fresh Mexico team.”
The Icelandic coach says he believes his team came back at the Mexicans in the second half and gave them a run for their money, while even suggesting that his charges might have given their rivals too much respect in the first 45 minutes.
He conceded that a third goal was always on the cards via a counter-attack as the Reggae Boyz pushed forward trying to pull a goal back in order to get into the game.
“It’s a hard defeat to take but we try to look at the positives and see what we can use to work on in the future,” the coach reiterated. “They played more collectively, I agree with that. They succeeded in what they were trying to do and I think we were a little bit too individual when we were attacking. We didn’t move the ball well in the first half, collective defending was not as quick and aggressive as we have shown, but in the second half we changed it so we were more aggressive and we kind of matched them at least… we haven’t played a team as good as Mexico in these games until now,” he ended.
In the day’s first semi-final, Panama shocked the US 5-4 on penalties after both teams played out a 1-2 result after full and extra time. The team went into extra time locked at 0-0.
