Reggae Boyz defender Liam Moore has labeled the October round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers a success and he now hopes the team will grow from strength to strength as it continues its climb on the points table.
The Reading Football Club captain was absent through injury when the Reggae Boyz lost 2-0 to the US in Austin, Texas, then drew 0-0 against visitors Canada at the National Stadium in Kingston before blanking Honduras 2-0 away in San Pedro Sula.
“The last window was a successful window in terms of getting more points on the board and that’s what we needed,” said the centre back.
“I watched the games but from the UK when I was injured, yeah and I thought there were some positives, seen some clean sheets and talking about moving forward now hope we will continue to grow from that and trying to keep some more clean sheets and get as many points on the board as we can,” he added.
The 28-year-old player believes the positive results in October now put the team in a good position ahead of the international fixtures in the new year.
The Reggae Boyz are currently lying in sixth place on five points, the same as El Salvador who have an inferior goal difference.
Mexico lead the standings with 14 points, three ahead of the US on 11, followed by Canada on 10, Panama on eight, Costa Rica on 6 and Honduras at the bottom on three points.
The top three teams at the end of the round-robin, home-and-away, 14-game fixture, will gain automatic berths to Qatar next year, while the fourth-placed side will enter an Inter-Continental play-offs for another shot at Qatar.
Liam Moore is of the view that the players are in the proper frame of mind to continue the upward trajectory of the past two games.
“The vibe in the camp is very good, having said that every time I’ve been away [with the team] I’ve really enjoyed it. In terms of the new players things are really easy, things click really quickly. Greg [Leigh] was at the airport, for example, someone I’ve not played with, [but] within five minutes there was so much to talk about.
“Who did you play on the weekend and how did you get on, etc, and the vibes now is just all building towards the game at the backend of this week and then after that it will be full focus on the game against the USA, and as I said we are trying to add as many points as we can.”
The Boyz are scheduled to face the hosts El Salvador at the Estadio Cuscatlan on Friday at 9:00 pm.
Head coach Theodore Whitmore and his technical staff have been fortunate to have arrived in the Central American country on Monday night, giving the team an additional day of preparation.
“Obviously the more time you work with someone the better the communication goes, the better the understanding goes with one another, but we are all footballers and we get on well.”
