Reggae Boyz Head Coach Heimir Hallgrímsson says he is not bothered by Michail Antonio’s goal drought, insisting he is pleased with the striker’s overall contribution to the team.

Antonio, who plays for West Ham United in the English Premier League, is considered one of the marquee players of the team.

He has so far scored three goals in seven international appearances for Jamaica.

These all came in FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against El Salvador, the United States of America (USA), and Panama, when the team was coached by Theodore Whitmore, then Paul Hall.

Although his last goal was scored on January 30, 2022, Antonio contributed an assist in Jamaica’s 4-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago in the Concacaf Gold Cup last week.

They followed that up with a 5-0 win over St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) on Sunday, with four Jamaican players getting on the scoresheet, and with Antonio not being one of them, questions were raised about his form in the post-match press conference.

Hallgrímsson says whoever scores the goals for the team does not matter, as long as they are being scored.

“I don’t mind who scores the goals and honestly, he doesn’t as well,” Hallgrímsson said after the game on Sunday night. “I’m not worried about that. He gives a lot of energy and opponents surround him so he opens space for others.

“When you have players that can score goals as we have — there are a lot of goals in our wingers, there’s a goal in ‘Whisper’ [Dujuan Richards] when he comes in, Kaheem [Parris] scored, well it was an own goal, so we have a lot of goals in the wingers and we have Shamar [Nicholson], Cory [Burke], and Antonio as strikers, so there are a lot of goals in the Jamaica national team.”

Hallgrímsson said he believes Antonio brings out the best in his teammates.

“When you have a quality player next to a quality player, it kind of helps both of them,” he said. “It is nothing that we did as a coaching staff. It’s just the simple things, don’t complicate things when you have quality players like that. Their individual skills will take care of the details. So, it’s really pleasing how we have done and we will continue that.”

Jamaica, who finished as runners-up in Group A behind the USA, face Group D winners Guatemala in the quarter-finals in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sunday.

Hallgrímsson says he will ensure the team remains grounded after the wins in the group.

“We need to focus,” he said. “The next team is a strong opponent. We need to be focused and balanced and we cannot be as open as we were in the second half [against SKN]. We need to prepare for a totally totally different match the next time.”

The last time Jamaica met Guatemala was in a 2-1 loss in a World Cup qualifier in October 2012. The teams have met 16 times in their history, with Jamaica winning 10 of those encounters and losing three.