National senior men’s football team Head Coach Heimir Hallgrímsson says he reconsidered his stance about trying to top Group A of the Concacaf Gold Cup during their 5-0 win over St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) on Sunday.

Jamaica entered the game on four points, the same as defending champions the United States of America (USA) on the final day of group play.

With the expectation that the USA would beat Trinidad and Tobago in their game being played simultaneously in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Reggae Boyz wanted to score as many goals as possible against SKN to win the group.

Jamaica had their goals through Julani Archibald (SKN’s own goal), Jon Russell, and substitutes Di’Shon Bernard, Daniel Johnson, and Cory Burke.

Those last three goals came as Jamaica upped the tempo from the first half, as Hallgrímsson decided at half-time to hunt a superior goal difference to the USA, in spite of saying on Saturday that whether they won the group was not that important to him.

“At 2-0 at half-time we discussed whether we should go for it, and then we went for it,” Hallgrímsson said in the post-game press conference. “Then we went for different tactics and different players. At half-time, we, of course, hoped that we would’ve scored more goals, but we decided as a team that we would just go for it, instead of kind of pulling the plug off the tempo and keeping possession. We wanted to use this game to try to create more upfront. But you leave the defence a little bit naked when you do that. So that was kind of the decision we made. We wanted to see how much we could do, because, in the first half, we were not happy with the tempo, but given the circumstances that’s difficult to go into a game and be deciding you’re gonna win it big, but all the credit to the players.”

However, it ultimately did not matter as the USA won their game 6-0 and ended the group on a goal difference of +12, four more than Jamaica’s.

SKN had one of their best chances at a goal 12 minutes in when Yohannes Mitchum was played in by Romaine Sawyers. Mitchum took the ball well on the edge of the area but saw his powerful shot deflect off a Jamaican defender’s head and out for a corner kick.

It took Jamaica 30 minutes to break the deadlock. A ball down the left side of the Jamaica attack found Leon Bailey, who played the ball across the goal to Kaheem Parris. His shot was also square to the goal and seemingly headed wide but SKN goalkeeper Archibald flapped his glove at it and put it into his own net.

Jamaica had more chances to double the lead but was ruled offside by VAR on two occasions. But that second goal did come two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Bailey received the ball on the edge of the area and, with a neat back pass, found Russell who advanced and, with just Archibald to beat, he tucked the ball under him to the far corner to score his first goal for the country.

SKN had another good effort when Tiquanny Williams looked up from a brilliant run down their left side to see Sawyers arriving late just outside the area. The ball was fed to Sawyers, who was given too much space by Jamaica to shoot, but his effort was blocked.

Defender Bernard also got his first goal for Jamaica just four minutes after half-time. Midfield substitute Johnson saw Bernard well played just on the edge of the area and played a short pass for him to turn unto and place in the bottom right corner of the net with his left foot.

SKN came close once more in minute 66 when Sawyers collected a poorly cleared ball on the edge of the area and progressed into the area. But his shot was well saved by Jahmali Waite in Jamaica’s goal.

Jamaica went 4-0 up in minute 72. Shamar Nicholson broke on a run down the right side of attack and made his way into the box and played the ball across goal looking for a man at the back post. The ball was however parried by substitute keeper Jamal Jeffers into the path of Johnson, who finished the rebound for his third international goal.

The lead stretched to 5-0 just three minutes later when Bailey found Nicholson, who once again broke down the right side and flicked a short pass across. It bobbled off a defender into the path of substitute Burke, who used his strength well to turn and fire past three defenders into the far post of the net.

SKN kept trying for their first-ever Gold Cup goal and in minute 77. Another fine cutback in the Jamaica box came to Jacob Hazel, whose first shot was well blocked in the mouth of the goal but his second effort was blasted high over the bar.

Jamaica now awaits the results of Group D as Canada faces Cuba and Guadeloupe and Guatemala play on Tuesday. Those matches kick off at 5:30 pm.

Hallgrímsson says the team will get two days off before returning to training.

The Reggae Boyz will face Group D’s winner on Sunday at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.