NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Reggae Boyz captain and goalkeeper Andre Blake has openly admitted that his team has yet to deliver a performance that is easy on the eyes and pleasing to their many fans in the 2019 edition of the Concacaf Gold Cup tournament.

However, Blake is willing to accept a workmanlike positive result over an eye-catching, free-flowing, losing rendition any day, and especially today when the Reggae Boyz face hosts the USA inside Nissan Stadium in Nashville here at 8:30 pm.

The teams are playing for a place in Sunday’s final at Soldier Field in Chicago.

“We have this fire in us from the past years that we have been coming so close and falling short and now we are determined that we want to go all the way,” Blake told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

He added: “Obviously, we are not playing our best football right now, but it’s a part of the game and if you asked me I would rather be playing ugly and stay in the tournament than playing beautiful football and back at my club right now, so it’s what it is and we have to be focused on what’s here and then block out the outside noise and to know that if we can play ugly and win the tournament I’ll take that every time.”

Following Sunday’s semi-final 1-0 wins for Jamaica and the USA over Panama and Curacao, respectively, the teams are faced with but a few days to recover and go at it again.

And the team which recovers quicker could have an advantage.

“A little bit of fatigue is going to be there,” admitted Blake, who was quick to point out that he had sent messages to the players to get as much rest as possible so that they can refresh themselves to give of their best.

American defender Tim Ream said that his team flew into Nashville from Philadelphia earlier than normal so that they could settle in at their hotel and get the required rest.

Two years ago Blake was on his way to winning the Most Valuable Player award when he put his body on the line in the 20th minute in the final as he smothered a chance from Dafrlington Nagbe and hurt his hand in the process.

Now he is eager to return against the country in which he earns his living in Major League Soccer at Philadelphia Union.

“Definitely looking forward to the game,” he shared.

“It’s going to be a big one, a tough one, a game that we are all excited about, games like these we don’t need a lot of motivation because we all know what’s at stake; we know what we are up against, we all know what we have to go out there and do, and that’s the mindset right now.

“We have to manage the game, we have to try to not get scored on; the longer the game goes at zeroes it’s the better for us because the pressure would be on them and for us we are all professionals and it’s going to be a challenging environment and it is something that we will have to be able to take care of. “Come tomorrow (today) we just have to do whatever it takes, we know they (US supporters) are going to be loud, but we have to be very good defensively and try to keep the ball and see how much we can take the crowd out of the game,” Blake noted.

But he believes his players are ready for the fight and that they have this determination that whatever comes in front of them, they will just have to move past it.

“It’s the semi-finals. You win and you are back in the final for three consecutive finals, so it’s definitely a big thing for us. A core group of guys here has been in this situation more than once so we know what it’s going to take and we know what it’s going to be like,” Blake noted.

Jamaica and the USA faced off in a friendly international a month ago in Washington, DC, where Jamaica won 1-0, for only their second victory on American soil.

The Americans never had all their players at full fitness, and they had a number of young players in their set-up at the time as new coach Gregg Berhalter fine-tuned to the competition.

Blake would like to prove that that victory was no fluke.

“It was a good game, and there were rumours out there that we beat the US ‘B’ team or ‘C’ team, so I can’t wait to play them again tomorrow (today) and hopefully this time around they put out their ‘A’ team or whatever,” he ended.

— Ian Burnett