Disappointing result!
DISAPPOINTING. In a word, it gives the sum total of Jamaica´s result, and feeling, following their 1-1 draw against hard-to-beat Panama in their CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) fixture at the National Stadium Friday night.
"The guys are a bit disappointed," noted head coach Theodore ´Tappa´ Whitmore in a post-game press conference less than an hour before midnight. "When playing at home, we expect three points. Due to the performance, they didn´t get that, so they´re a bit down.
"Tonight´s game is not the sort of result we were looking forward to, but unfortunately, we have to prepare ourselves for good moments and bad moments," he added.
Jamaica and Panama now have two points in the hexagonal play-offs. Honduras lead with four points after their 2-2 comeback draw at home against Mexico, while the United States are second on three points after beating Costa Rica 1-0 in a snowstorm in Colorado. Costa Rica are protesting match conditions.
All six countries will play each other home and away (10 matches) to decide the three automatic qualifiers for next year´s World Cup Finals in Brazil. A fourth CONCACAF representative will play off against New Zealand, the winners of the Oceania group, for another World Cup slot.
Recently recruited Britain-based midfielder, Marvin Elliott, provided the brightest spark for Jamaica, rising to meet Demar Phillips´ corner kick six yards out, then firmly heading the ball into goal to hand the locals a 1-0 lead at the 23rd minute.
However, Luis Henriquez wiped away that deficit with an angled finish from the top of the penalty box, his bouncing shot beating the fully extended figure of goalie Donovan Ricketts into the far post at the 66th minute.
"We played the match to win. We played very well and we were able to draw and that was a positive result for us," said Julio Dely Valdez, Panama´s head coach.
It was the second stalemate for Panama and the Reggae Boyz in as many regional final-round WCQ fixtures. Only this time, the emotions were different for Jamaica.
The 0-0 result in February against powerful Mexico at its dreaded high-altitude Azteca Stadium - a historic feat given the prior perfect trend of losses in Mexico City - felt like a win. Friday´s draw at what Jamaicans consider their fortress, ´The Office´, was largely perceived as a loss.
Yet it could have ended that way, given the way the Panamanians invaded Kingston and took out the Boyz and their capacity crowd of over 30,000, decked out in a sea of yellow, with a dominating performance.
From almost the time they conceded the goal, they begun pulling the strings with a neat short-passing game and virtually had Jamaica on the run. With good skill and cunning plays while displaying much composure, they protected the ball and made good advances on goal, only to be thwarted with last-ditch clearances as they tried to make one pass too many inside the 18-yard box, seemingly intent on walking the ball into the goal.
WASTED CHANCES
They wasted the game´s clearest chance on the stroke of half-time when unchallenged Blas Perez couldn´t finish a cross from Leonel Parris inside the six-yard box.
That occurred just when Jamaica lost their top central defender, Nyron Nosworthy, to injury, forcing a late first-half replacement with versatile midfielder Omar Daley, who played right back, with Jermaine Taylor switching to a central role.
"We lost Nosworthy and that changed the whole complexity of our team. That caused us to make a lot of adjustments and that didn´t help the team," Whitmore reasoned. "But we have to give thanks for the one point."
After the half-time break, trailing Panama maintained the ascendancy and then increased their tempo with the introduction of number 10 player Nelson Barahona and duly picked up the equaliser 24 minutes from time.
It was hard to imagine so many thousands of people going so quiet in a moment. You could hear a pin drop.
Interestingly, Elliott´s goal apart, their most vocal servings were dished out on brave Honduran referee Hector Rodriquez, who made a lot of controversial calls against the home team, angering players and spectators alike.
"The referees are out there to do their job," was Whitmore´s response to the officiating.
Valdez´s take never offered much more.
"The refereeing was very good, even on both sides," said the man whose team shrieked when notified of the refereeing assignment, given the relations between both countries.
During Friday´s game, Panamanians suffocated the Reggae Boyz with close marking and consistent fouling, a tactic that significantly took away Jamaica´s rhythm and opportunities to put their pacy game into motion.
The Jamaicans were hardly able to put three passes together, opted to go long from the back on most occasions, and played a disconcertingly high number of passes off the field. There were hardly any linkages through the middle, with central midfielders Elliott and Austin beaten to the ball or caught in possession many times, resulting in a high number of turnovers and not much team coordination.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
"It´s one of our concerns, keeping possession of the ball, taking into consideration we don´t have a lot of time to do what we set out to do," Whitmore said. "But it´s a game-by-game situation and, as much as possible, we want to improve on every situation. Tonight, I wouldn´t say we were at our best, but we were a bit fortunate."
At the offensive end, there weren´t any meaningful offerings from the much-talked-about Jermaine Beckford, Garath McCleary and the pair of Jobi McAnuff and Luton Shelton, who might have offered better in opposite roles.
"Basically, the engine room, the midfield didn´t operate the way we wanted," Whitmore observed.
Another Jermaine though, ´Teddy´ Johnson, provided much spark from the bench with dribbles half the length of the pitch on three occasions that pushed the Panama team back to their goal and brightened expectations of a winning strike.
It almost came with McAnuff´s stoppage-time shot from near the top of the penalty box that went inches wide of the far post with beaten goalkeeper, Luis Mejia, looking on.
Johnson was one of two changes to the Jamaica starting eleven that over-performed in Mexico, the other, ironically, being the other Johnson, striker Ryan, who played well and got chances but missed in The Azteca. He never got a minute.
"When you look at the Panama team and the way we wanted to play against them, we had to make some adjustments. Probably it didn´t work out for us for a number of reasons, but we just have to go back and look at the tape and see where we went wrong and move on," said Whitmore.
"We´re looking forward now to the Costa Rica game," the Jamaica coach said of their next game on Tuesday in San José.
"None of the games we play will be easy. There will be obstacles," Whitmore concluded.
Brasil: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo (100% Carioca) Rio > Säo Paulo
MENGÃO TRI DA AMÈRICA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RlVt8zJhXQ