NATIONAL senior men’s football team Head Coach Heimir Hallgrímsson says he expects a challenging Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-final match when his Reggae Boyz meet Guatemala this afternoon.

Jamaica (Group A runners-up) meet Guatemala (Group D winners) at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sunday at 4:06 pm Jamaica time.

While Hallgrímsson says he has seen improvement since the start of the tournament in the way his team attacks and defends, he has been paying attention to Guatemala and is wary of the threat they pose — especially in transitioning from defence to attack.

He says Guatemala’s biggest strengths are their directness, tempo, and character.

“The things we are looking at is the transition game,” Hallgrímsson said in a press conference ahead of the game on Saturday. “They are really quick from defence to attack. They are really direct when they have the ball — some quick, technical players. It’s the directness that opponents should look for when they play against Guatemala, the tempo in their game, and it’s a lot of character in this team. It’s something you look at, both on and off the pitch, with the people of Guatemala supporting them with their hearts. That is something that we respect and we are ready to face when we meet them.”

That transitioning can be nullified by an effective midfield showing from Jamaica but they must improve on elements of their game that were found wanting in spite of a 5-0 win over St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) in the previous game. SKN’s most dangerous moments against Jamaica came twice when attacker Romaine Sawyers was able to find late-running attackers with cutbacks at the edge of Jamaica’s area, but a lack of quality in the final third meant they did not convert these chances.

While he did not get into specific details about how he would stop Guatemala’s threat on fast breaks, Hallgrímsson said a solid understanding between his midfielders will prove important to ensuring they do not face the same issues in this game.

“We were always trying to improve the cooperation and partnership between players and the understanding of how we want to play as a team, as a unit,” he said. “It is not particularly for this match. We just know the danger is in the transition moments against Guatemala. We need to emphasise some elements of the game or some parts of the game. For example, our balance is very important against a team like Guatemala.

“If we talk about the midfield partnership, one needs to always be in balance if we lose possession of the ball. It’s this understanding that will develop as we play more matches, as we learn about each other. It’s a few things that we work on; how we attack is a part of how we defend as well. It’s a continuous thing, it’s nothing new or special that we will do tactically against Guatemala but it’s a few emphases we put on how we play.”

The responsibility is likely to be held by the midfield duo of Kevon Lambert and Joel Latibeaudiere.

Lambert, who was also involved in the press conference, says he is developing good chemistry with his teammate.

“The partnership I have with Joel so far is fairly new,” Lambert said. “We started playing together just a couple of weeks ago. I’ve only known him for a couple of weeks, he’s only known me for a couple of weeks. I’m enjoying it. I love playing with Joel. He’s a really good player but we still have a long way to go and we have a lot of things to work on. We can always grow and we can always improve but for the most part, right now, I’m definitely enjoying it and I look forward to playing with him in the future and having some more fun, winning games, and just keep it going.”

The Reggae Boyz did not get to focus heavily on tactics in their training session on Saturday because of the weather but Hallgrímsson said they instead used the opportunity to build team morale.

“The weather today in training was thunder and lightning and some rain but we did the best we could,” he said. “We enjoyed it. There was a lot of laughter. It was maybe not the most tactical training we have done so far but at least the players got a run out and had some fun.”

Guatemala’s main threat should come from striker Rubio Méndez who scored twice in their previous game, a 3-2 win over Guadeloupe. But midfielder Carlos Mejía, who also scored, and goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen have also had strong performances in the tournament and have been named in the team of the group stage, with Jamaica winger Demarai Gray.

Hallgrímsson is not expected to make any surprising changes to his line-up and Gray is expected to be joined in attack by Leon Bailey and Michail Antonio. Captain Andre Blake, rested in the previous game, should return to goal, and Damion Lowe should return to the centre of defence to partner Di’Shon Bernard, who Hallgrímsson spoke highly of last week.

The teams last met in a World Cup qualifier in 2012, with Guatemala winning 2-1. But Jamaica has a better head-to-head record, winning 10 of their 16 games and losing three. Jamaica has also won all four of the teams’ previous Gold Cup matches.