‘We’ve let ourselves down!’
Reggae Boyz Head Coach Paul Hall was left lamenting another missed opportunity by his charges in their latest Concacaf final round World Cup qualifying 0-1 loss to Costa Rica on Wednesday night.
The Boyz started lively and looked much the better team in the first half but somehow conspired to let the game slip into the visitors’ hands and with that the three points and any hopes of creating a miracle.
Hall is still trying to come to grips with what transpired behind closed doors inside the National Stadium.
“We controlled the first half and it was almost total control. The players were moving the ball well, but the final pass, the final decision, and the final product was just left there at the end, and to have that much control and not be able to finish it off really is a tough pill to swallow,” he stated at a post-game press conference on Wednesday.
Hall, who replaced former 1998 Reggae Boy teammate Theodore Whitmore as head coach last December, has now overseen three consecutive losses, having been beaten 1-2 by Mexico last Thursday and 2-3 to Panama on Sunday.
He said he told the players after the game that each one of them in the group had to question himsef.
“We have to question ourselves, whether we are good enough as a group, as a team, as a unit, because I think tonight we’ve let ourselves down, and I just told them that,” he reiterated.
Having said that, he was quick to add that the positives must also be taken into account, as few and far between as they might have been.
“I think it’s important to think about the positives in the game, but I think it’s hard to be positive after a result like that, but as a group we’ve got to look to our performances, me too, and really be honest with ourselves. I think we’ve come up short and we’ve got a lot of improvements to make.”
After 11 games and with only three remaining in the 14-game series, Jamaica languish in seventh place on seven points and ahead of Honduras with three.
Canada lead with 25 points, four ahead of the US and Mexico on 21, with Panama on 17, Costa Rica (16) and El Salvador on nine. The top three teams go directly to Qatar, while the team that ends in fourth place gets another chance via an inter-continental play-off.
With the dream dead and buried for Qatar, Hall recommends starting the rebuilding process now.
“We’ve just got to rebuild, as simple as that. We can take the example of Canada, take the example of the US and just rebuild the squad. We’ve got to have a look at who has performed, who hasn’t performed, and we have to rebuild and that will be my recommendation,” he said.
Concacaf Final Round World Cup Qualifying Points StandingsTeams P W D L Gf Ga Gd Pts
Canada 11 7 4 0 19 5 14 25
US 11 6 3 2 16 7 9 21
Mexico 11 6 3 2 14 8 6 21
Panama 11 5 2 4 14 12 2 17
Costa Rica 11 4 4 3 8 7 1 16
El Salvador 11 2 3 6 6 13 -7 9
Jamaica 11 1 4 6 9 16 -7 7
Honduras 11 0 3 8 5 22 -17 3