THOUGH they never got the desired victory to end their CONCACAF World Cup qualifying campaign on a high, Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz gave a spirited farewell nonetheless in a 2-2 draw with Honduras at the National Stadium on Tuesday night.

Their first-half performance was lacking in tactical discipline and impetus in a match that had little meaning for the home team, but they returned a more organised and fired up bunch to emerge from their 2-1 deficit to tie the score. In each area of the field, the Jamaica Observer will mark the Boyz’ performance from 0-10.

Defence

It was obvious that it was never going to be easy to motivate the players to be at their optimum when their World Cup dream had long died. And from a defensive perspective, especially in the first half, Wes Morgan, Adrian Mariappa, Demar Phillips and Lloyd Doyley were off beat against their more clinical rendition against the USA four days earlier in Kansas City, even though they lost the game 2-0 in a late meltdown. Goalkeeper DuWayne Kerr, who was fantastic in Kansas for the most part, was unimpressive with his kick-outs, failing to find his teammates by over-hitting the ball or by playing it short, thus giving away possession in crucial areas.

— 5

Midfield

Jobi McAnuff is not going to get his name on the scoresheet with regularity, but you have to give him an ‘A’ for effort all the time — running hard, dribbling, tackling and his vocal commands in the heat of battle with his natural leadership abilities. Rodolph Austin, the team’s captain, gave a fair rendition in his holding midfield role and appeared comfortable passing the ball around, though at times he would appear static, lacking that bit of trickery and flexibility that could change the angle of the play. Again, Je-Vaughn Watson was the stand-up guy in midfield — a picture of composure and confidence.

— 5.5

Offence

It does not matter how we got them — one an own goal and the other from the penalty spot — we were scoring two goals for the first time in the final round of these qualifiers. Deshorn Brown and Darren Mattocks saw a lot of the ball and showed daring in taking on the Honduran rearguard, while crowd favourite Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson played below the radar, popping up at critical points to get a shot in or cheeky pass to his fellow strikers. It was Brown’s angled shot pin-balled on the legs of two Honduran players before going in for an own goal.

— 6

Total: 16.5

Formation: 4-3-3.