DENVER, Colorado — Tactically he was spot on.

Head Coach Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore had changed his team’s formation from a 4-4-2 after their 2-0 victory over Curacao in the first game to a 4-1-4-1 against Mexico, and the plan was to deny the free-flowing North Americans and restrict their width.

It worked to perfection and it was no surprise when a beaming Whitmore declared to the media that his team took away Mexico’s game and thus forced them to improvise.

In the top-of-the-table Group C clash here on Thursday night at Sports Authority Field at Mile High — home of the Denver Broncos in the National Football League — in front of a record CONCACAF Gold Cup crowd of 49,121 spectators, the finalists from the 2015 edition battled out a 0-0 result to leave the standings as they were.

Mexico remain atop with four points, same as Jamaica, but with a superior goal difference tiebreak, while El Salvador, who defeated Curacao 2-0, jumped to third place on three points, as Curacao remained rooted at the foot of the table without a point.

“I think it was a very tactical, disciplined performance,” beamed Whitmore at game’s end.

“We knew what the Mexicans had to offer, and I think we didn’t give them enough room and space to hurt us. We know that they are going to go down the flanks and they are going to cross, so we took that out of their game,” he added.

The Mexicans bossed the game territorially, but created nothing more than a few scares for the Reggae Boyz who, with their mix of youth and experience, were seen as justifiable underdogs against Juan Carlos Osorios’ professionals — all but one of whom plays locally.

The best chance for the seven-time winners came near the half-hour mark when striker Erick Torres raced in front of the defence from a left-sided cross to glance a header past goalkeeping Captain Andre Blake, but agonisingly for the huge Mexicans inside the venue, against the left upright.

And before the interval, Blake was beaten to another left-sided cross, which Jesus Molina got on the end of, but the backpedalling Jermaine Taylor was on hand to head over the goal frame.

Those two scares aside, Whitmore, the two-goal hero in Jamaica’s 2-1 victory over Japan at the 1998 World Cup Finals in France, conceded that while the Boyz limited the Mexicans in attack, they themselves didn’t do enough when in possession of the ball, especially when presented with genuine counter-attacks.

“We didn’t create as they did… they had a lot of ball possession, but they didn’t create anything in front of our goal… (but) we still need to work on our transition …

“I think going forward when we catch teams on the break we tend to go backwards, to dribble instead of passing, so there is a lot that we can take from this game and there is still room for improvement.”

The Boyz, fearing the Mile High altitude that Denver is know for and with which the Mexicans and familiar with, surrendered the attacking third of the pitch and tended to maintain their defensive shape and, most importantly, their concentration, led by the central defensive pair of Taylor and Damio Lowe, as well as the collaborative efforts of the wing players Oniel Fisher and Kemar Lawrence, and Cory Burke and Alvas Powell.

Whitmore was outright in declaring that there was no intent to employ an ultra-defensive strategy.

“That’s how the game developed… at times we caught out the Mexicans… Fisher made runs behind the defenders, Mattocks made runs too, but again we failed to execute those passes. But as I have said, it is a game by game process, as we didn’t have enough time to work on things we wanted to do or what we wanted to achieve (with the training camp at home), but we are very pleased with the draw.”

However, he had high praises for the defensive set-up and the execution of the game plan on that front.

“Two games now we haven’t conceded and I think that augurs well for us … I think the back four was very solid, but there is still room for improvement because the connection between the back four, the midfield and the attack, we need to get that co-ordination going forward.

“I’m very pleased… and I think the guys executed well… we still have some hitches here and there, but they are things we can improve on … I think game by game we have seen improvements in some areas, but we still need to catch up on others,” the coach said.

It was the second 0-0 result for Whitmore with his Reggae Boyz against Mexico following a similar result in a World Cup qualifier at the Azteca Stadium on February 6, 2013.

In the first game Gerson Mayen in the 21st minute and Rodolfo Zelaya three minutes later were the scorers for El Salvador, while Curacao let themselves down by having a first-half penalty saved by goalkeeper Derby Carrillo.

The Boyz were scheduled to hold a swimming pool session yesterday morning after breakfast before travelling via private charter to San Antonio, Texas, later in the afternoon.

They face El Salvador in Sunday’s first game at Alamodome before Mexico take on Curacao.

The winners and runners-up from each of the three groups, plus to the two best third-placed teams advance to the quarter-finals.

Teams:

Jamaica — Andre Blake, Damion Lowe, Alvas Powell, Oniel Fisher, Darren Mattocks (Jermaine Johnson 90th+), Cory Burke (Owayne Gordon 88th), Michael Binns (Ewan Grandison 75th), Je-Vaughn Watson, Kevon Lambert, Kemar Lawrence, Jermaine Taylor

Subs not used: Rosario Harriott, Ladale Richie, Sergio Campbell, Shaun Francis, Dwayne Miller, Shamar Nicholson, Ricardo Morriss, Romario Williams, Damion Hyatt

Booked: Lambert (31st), Blake (56th), Binns (63rd)

Mexico — Moises Munoz, Hugo Ayala, Jesus Molina, Edson Alvarez, Orbelin Pineda, Erick Torres, Elias Hernandez (Erick Gutierrez 75th), Hedgardo Marin, Rodolfo Pizarro (Cesar Montes 46th), Jesus Gallardo, Jesus Duenas (Martin Barragan 67th)

Subs not used: Jesus Corona, Luis Rodriquez, Jair Pereira, Miguel Angel Fraga, Jorge Hernandez, Raul Lopez, Angel Sepulveda, Luis Reyes, Alejandro Mayorga

Booked: None

Referee: Ricardo Montero (Costa Rica)

Assistant Referees: Juan Carlos Mora (Costa Rica), Gabriel Victoria (Panama)

Fourth Official: Ariel Sanchez (Panama)

Match Commissioner: Osiris Guzman (Dominican Republic)

Referee Assessor: John Nielsen (Canada)

Venue Coordinator: Kevan Pipe