SAN ANTONIO, USA – A couple of the Reggae Boyz who played integral roles in the progress of the team to the quarter-finals of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament here have admitted that the team failed to impress in its forward thrust against El Salvador on Sunday.

The Central Americans took a 15th-minute lead before Darren Mattocks, with his second goal of the tournament and the fourth in his last five games dating back to the 2015 edition, pulled the Boyz level.

The result left both teams as quarter-finalists, with Jamaica finishing second to Mexico and El Salvador earning one of the two best third-placed teams.

But Head Coach Theodore Whitmore was less than pleased with the performance of the team yet again, despite the 1-1 result, and so too his players.

“I think in the first five minutes we got a few chances and we started brightly, but we became a little bit flat. we conceded and we gained back a little strength in the game and we created chances but unfortunately we couldn’t get the job done with the goals,” Damion Lowe, who has played every minute of the three games as Jermaine Taylor’s central defensive partner, told the Jamaica Observer.

“In second half I think we did enough to get the result, but we could have done more. Everyone went into the game to win and I don’t think we were complacent or anything like that.

“It is football and the momentum can change at any time, and we have to react to that. I just think we weren’t connecting our passes and it’s obvious, and that affected the game a lot. We are a footballing team and we are trying to play, and we are sometimes trying to soak up the pressure and play on the counter-attacks,” he admitted.

For the versatile Onel Fisher, who was substituted after 65 minutes with a tight hamstring, he could understand the coach’s frustration.

Whitmore had read the riot Act in the dressing room at game’s end, reminding players that he had the option to call on six players to replace a similar number if he so desired.

“I can see why ‘Tappa’ is upset, because the first two games we stamped our class as we came out with the mentality that we are going to work hard or whatever the case may be, for whatever team it was. I thought we came out a little bit slow and kind of complacent a little bit, and we needed a bit of wake-up call — and I felt like that’s what it was,” he said.

“The first five minutes we started out good and then I felt like we kind of lost focus and dropped back a little bit too much, and giving them the option to play and gain confidence and come at us.

“I felt in the second half we picked it up a little bit knowing that we wanted to win, as it’s a tournament and we need results,” Fisher added.

All the Boyz who did not play 90 minutes were taken to Trinity University yesterday morning for a training session, while the others, including Fisher, recovered with a pool session at the team’s hotel.

They were slated to travel to Glendale, Arizona, later in the afternoon, where they face Canada on Thursday inside the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Lowe welcomed the four days of rest.

“It is good that we get a couple days to recover and to get the bodies fresh and right again. so we need to go back to the training pitch and work on what we need to because the team still has high hopes of advancing from the quarter-finals. The goal was to get to the quarter-finals and take it from there. We are there right now and the focus is getting past Canada,” he said.

— Ian Burnett