He most certainly would have preferred a victory, but national football coach Mr Paul Hall is undoubtedly relieved after the Reggae Boyz’s 1-1 draw with El Salvador in the National Stadium in St Andrew on Thursday night.

Football fans will recall that prior to Thursday, Jamaica had lost all three Concacaf World Cup qualifying games under the stewardship of Mr Hall who took over as head coach of Jamaica’s football programme late last year.

Thursday night’s result means that not only seventh-placed Jamaica and last-placed Honduras are out of contention for a place at the Fifa World Cup, but also sixth-placed El Salvador.

With two games remaining, intriguing upstarts Canada lost to Costa Rica in San Jose on Thursday night but continue to lead the pack in the drive to be one of three automatic qualifiers for Qatar. The Canadians are on 25 points ahead of the United States and Mexico on 22 points each — the latter two having played to a draw in Mexico City on Thursday night.

Barring catastrophe for any of the top three teams over the next few days, they seem set to be the three automatic World Cup qualifiers from Concacaf.

Costa Rica on 19 points and Panama on 18 are in a battle to the line for fourth place, which would ensure a playoff for a World Cup spot against a team from another confederation.

From a local perspective, the Reggae Boyz — now in a compulsory rebuilding phase — are in Toronto, Canada for an engagement on Sunday with the odds heavily stacked against them. A draw for the Jamaicans in an environment that is certain to be cold and hostile would be a huge achievement.

They will return to wrap up their campaign on Wednesday against Honduras in Kingston, hoping to repeat their lone victory — away to that country — last year.

Obviously, as he looks to the future, Mr Hall — who has made it clear he wants to keep the job as national coach — will be looking for all the positives he can get from the remainder of the campaign, not just in terms of match results, but also team and individual performances.

We note his assertion that going forward he is looking for “commitment” from individuals.

Said he earlier this week: “We can only move forward with those who want to help us and who want to be here. Let me be clear, we need to be committed as individuals and as a group if we are going to start achieving things… we have to put Jamaica first… I will not [rely] on anybody who doesn’t want to put Jamaica first…”

Mr Hall has also made it clear that he believes the Jamaica Football Federation has to focus more on grassroots programmes and development, rather than merely relying on short-term shots at qualifying for a Fifa World Cup every four years.

“Regardless of what the results are there is a big job that needs to be done. You have to draw a line in the sand. You cannot do the same thing we’ve been doing over the years,” he said.

This newspaper could not agree more.