SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -— There is still belief in the Reggae Boyz camp that they can gain qualification to the Brazil FIFA World Cup Finals next summer, despite slipping to the bottom of the hexagonal after Tuesday night’s 0-2 loss to Costa Rica.

They got their campaign off to an exciting start when they held the mighty Mexico goalless at the Azteca Stadium on February 6, but followed up with two sub-par performances against Panama (1-1) at home last Friday night and against Costa Rica.

The Panamanians led the six-team group with five points, one ahead of Costa Rica, Honduras and the USA, with Mexico next on three and Jamaica on two.

Costa Rica, who were desperate for the win, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute through Michael Umana, and substitute Diego Calvo made the game safe eight minutes from the end.

In between, Jamaica had two decent first-half chances to hit the target but were far from clinical. In addition, they failed to connect with their passes with any degree of consistency, which made the game easier for the hosts.

There was consensus that the team failed to perform at an acceptable standard for the second game running.

“A pretty poor effort again,” explained captain Donovan Ricketts at game’s end. “I think we have the ability to do much better. We have things we need to sort out and get back on the right track and I think we have time to do it,” he added.

For Jermaine Johnson, who will be suspended for the next game on June 4 against Mexico at the National Stadium after receiving his second yellow card of the final phase, it’s time for introspection.

“I think we didn’t do ourselves any justice by going out there and putting on that display,” Johnson asserted. “… but I think the second half was a much better team game, but to be honest, we need to look at ourselves and come again and just try to recover for the next game.”

Central defender Jermaine Taylor thought the team could have done much better.

“Everything is for a reason, and you don’t want to talk too much on the negative side of the game, but I think overall we could have done much better in the game in terms of tactics and things like that, and working on and off the ball, and that hurt us in the game.”

Marvin Elliott, the central midfielder who notched his first international goal for Jamaica against Panama last Friday night, explained that the players are disappointed because they genuinely know that they are capable of much better.

“We are definitely in with a chance, and the reason why we are so disappointed is that we know we are better than we are showing. If that wasn’t the case then maybe we wouldn’t be how we are,” he said.

He added: “First half we let in a sloppy goal, which I thought we could have defended much better, but the first half we thought was quite even though we were one nil down. We thought if we could come into the second half and get the first goal we could go on and win it. There was a lot of space on the park to play; they were letting us play.

“In the second half I thought we were dominating it, but we couldn’t get the goal really, and they got the second goal and really killed the game, so yeah, we are disappointed, especially with that amount of space that they gave us and if they allowed us to play we have got to be more clinical, be more ruthless and punish them and obviously not let in two goals.”

He also lamented the fact that the Reggae Boyz were guilty of giving away the ball far to frequently, and even when there was no pressure on them. “We’ll work on it and hopefully get it right in June. We need to keep clean sheets for starters, score more goals, keep the ball better, we’ve still got a few things to work on.”

Elliott’s partner at central midfield, Rodolph Austin, preferred to look ahead, as he struggled to find a reason for the team’s dismal showing.

“We are disappointed as a team. We have talked about it, but we just have to help each other. We tried to play, but it didn’t happen, I don’t know (why), to be honest with you, but we all talked about it in the dressing room. It is history now; we can’t do anything about it.”

Skipper Ricketts was also unimpressed with the quality of defending on the first goal.

“I didn’t think we reacted quickly in the box. The ball came back post, then it came back across and we were pretty slow in getting the ball cleared and getting it sorted in the box to defend the cross; that was just sloppy play all round,” he explained.

“I think basically we are not on the same page. Some want to play and some want to go long, so I think that needs to be better and everyone on the same page.”

Taylor identifies miscommunication for the first goal, and he believes the team needs improving in that area.

“I think it was just miscommunication and missing a marking. I think overall we need to do better at set pieces and defending because it is one of the things that cost us games. I think when you have guys coming back to pick up and not knowing defensive roles, it is going to be tough, but it is one of those days when guys get free and it hurt us, so we just have to move forward and leave this game behind.”

Despite languishing at the bottom of the points table, the Boyz are firm in their belief that they can turn their fortunes around and gain a spot in Brazil next summer.

“It is not time to panic, we have four games at home and if we sort what we need to sort out and get our game right, I think we still have a chance,” the captain asserted.

Said Austin: “We definitely can still get the job done, it is not going to be easy, but we just have to stick together as a team, we can’t point fingers at each other because it is a team thing. Sometimes when things like these happen it can be good because you know that your back is against the wall and you work hard and do better. We just have to win our home games and play tighter away.”