Jamaica’s Senior Men’s National Team head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson was left pleased with the Reggae Boyz’s 5-0 win over St Kitts and Nevis in their final Group A match at the 17th CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament inside the Levi Stadium in Sana Clara, California on Sunday.
And apart from being Jamaica’s biggest-ever margin of victory at the tournament, another aspect which left a grin on Hallgrimsson’s face was the fact that goals were being scored by a number of players instead of a select group of players.
Despite the huge margin of victory, Jamaica finished as runners-up to the USA on goal difference after the hosts defeated Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 to finish on seven points, but with a plus 12 goal difference as compared to Jamaica’s plus eight.
The Americans had also defeated Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 while playing out a 1-1 result in the tournament opener with Jamaica.
Jamaica had defeated Trinidad and Tobago 4-1.
“Given also that we did six changes to our starting line-up I think we can only be happy. Of course, we were chasing some goal difference but I think it would have been over-ambitious to equal the US goals, so to be in a tournament and win 5-0 is a big achievement, even though at times we didn’t play at full tempo, but we shouldn’t spoil it by being over-ambitious,” Hallgrimsson told the media at game’s end.
He added: “That so many (players scoring goals) came about it was fun, it gives the players confidence, it gets them motivated for the next game so everyone has put something in and hopefully now some players will stake a claim to start the next game, so I’m unlucky the FIFA only allows starting 11, so we now need to focus on recovering quickly and be ready for the next match which will be a knockout game which is totally different, but I’m happy that so many came about around the goals.”
The US and Jamaica thus advanced to the quarter-finals with Jamaica facing the first-place team from Group D on Sunday at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Currently, Guadeloupe leads Group D with four points from two games, the same as Guatemala, but with a plus-three goal difference compared to a plus-one for the Central Americans.
Canada lies in third place with two points, with Cuba eliminated without a point at the foot of the table.
The Reggae Boyz travelled to Ohio late Monday well ahead of their next assignment.
On Tuesday, Guadeloupe faces Guatemala at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey at 5:30 pm (EST), while Canada takes on Cuba at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas at the same time.
Jamaica went ahead on the half-hour mark when Leon Bailey crossed from the left and picked out Kaheem Parris on the right and his grounded cross deflected off goalkeeper Julani Archibald and into the goal for an own-goal lead.
Two minutes into time added for the half-time interval Jamaica added a second when Bailey neatly backheeled for the onrushing midfielder Jonathan Russell to dribble into the penalty box before drilling a grounded shot past the outstretched arms of Archibald.
It was Russell’s first international goal for Jamaica.
Four minutes after the resumption, central defender Di’Shon Bernard notched his first goal for Jamaica when he exhibited an impressive piece of skill to pull the ball back behind him with the right boot to dismiss a defender before striking a left-footed grounder just inside Archibald’s near post.
The play developed with Demarai Grey dribbling across the field from the left before passing off to Daniel Johnson who slipped in Bernard.
Johnson added a fourth on 72 minutes and Corey Burke added the fifth and final two minutes later.
Icelandic coach Hallgrimsson said he wasn’t bothered by the fact that ace striker Michail Antonio had failed to find the net, especially with no fewer than eight players adding their names to the scoresheet.
“I don’t mind who scores the goals and honestly he [Antonio] doesn’t as well, so I’m not worried about that. He gives a lot of energy and opponents surround him so it opens space for others and maybe the most pleasing thing is that we were quite disciplined even though in the end we were kind of going for it to try to score more goals and always it leaves the defence a little bit vulnerable when you play two strikers in the second half and attacking wingers and we kind of try to throw everything [forward] so when we lose possession we are open but sometimes you need to play that match. But I’m pleased with the attitude of the players for 90 minutes in this game.
“We started quite slow but given that it was a real baking oven inside the stadium so it was easy to sit on the bench and scream at the players and say run, run, run, but I was pleased with the character of the team and the spirit and that they went on and continued until the end of the match.”
Meanwhile, Austin Huggins, head coach of St Kitts and Nevis, saw a lot of positives for his team to take forward from their first Gold Cup appearance.
“It was a good game. I think our team was much better tonight, especially in the first half. The only problem I encountered though is that we allowed them [Jamaica] too much space at times on the ball instead of being more aggressive and winning the ball as quickly as possible and getting it up the field.”
He recognized the tournament as a “learning experience” and that they are going to use these three matches as a “measuring stick” as they prepare for their next assignment in September.
And despite shipping 14 goals in their three matches, Huggins is firmly of the view that defensively his charges gave a good account of themselves.
“We played against Trinidad and we were able to hold them to the 44th minute 0-0 so in my estimation we played defensively sound, so that’s one of the positive stuff, and also we were defensively sound against Jamaica this evening, so we can go away knowing that defensively we are good and we could be better still.
“The goals that we gave up is because we weren’t aggressive enough, we paid too much respect to the opponents in terms of allowing them to do what they had to do, but we need to get more aggressive, especially in and around our defensive area so we could use that to work on and get much better as we move forward.”
As well as conceding nearly a handful of goals per game, St Kitts and Nevis also went without scoring a goal, but Huggins has seen signs that that area is on the improve.
“We also need to get more shots firing at goal in the attack. We tried tonight to get some shots off but I think the game was the only game in the tournament that we were able to look for shots as we ask them to in the dressing room. Those were the positives for me that we could take away from the tournament and work harder for the future,” the coach said.
