REGGAE Boyz Head Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has hinted at a counter-attacking approach to their Group B Copa America game against Ecuador at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, today.

Both teams lost their opening games on Saturday as Jamaica were edged 1-0 by Concacaf rivals Mexico in Houston while Ecuador, who played with 10 players from the first half, gave up a 1-0 half-time lead and lost 1-2 to Venezuela, the group leaders.

Hallgrimsson said he was expecting a tough game from the South Americans coached by Spaniard Felix Sanchez, whom he knows well from their time coaching in Qatar.

“It’s going to be a tough match, really a tough match,” Hallgrimsson said. “This is, of course, Copa America, their tournament. They came into this group as the media’s favourites and have done brilliant results prior to the tournament.”

Ecuador will, however, be without their captain and one of their most influential players, Enner Valencia, who was sent off in the 23rd minute against Venezuela for a rash tackle.

Jamaica will be meeting Ecuador for the fifth time but first in a competitive match and are yet to beat them, drawing twice, losing the other two games, and scoring just once.

Jamaica’s history at Copa America makes for grim reading as they have lost all seven games played and are yet to score a goal.

The Reggae Boyz lost all three group games by 1-0 margins in their first appearance in 2015, and conceded six goals in their three group games at Copa America Centenario in 2016.

Despite their loss on Saturday, Hallgrimsson said Ecuador cannot be overlooked.

“They are a tough team to beat, a tough team to play against,” he said. “They have managed to get good results against the biggest teams in South America — and they were always low-scoring matches.”

Hallgrimsson said conceding twice against Venezuela could have come through fatigue.

“After they had been playing one man down for, I think, 40 to 50 minutes… we need to be aware that we cannot go all in and concede a goal because it’s difficult to get back,” he said. “With teams like Ecuador and Venezuela we need to be careful but we need to be brave as well at the same time, but it needs to be calculated risks that we take.

After being forced back into their own area at the start against Mexico on Saturday, Jamaica did manage to put together some attacks and — were it not for a marginal offside call against Michail Antonio early in the second half — would have taken the lead against a Mexican side that looked more vulnerable than usual.

Hallgrimsson said yesterday that the team is “injury-free” and had managed to get in some work.

“We’ve done some things since we came to the tournament — eight, maybe nine sessions. Everybody’s fit and ready, and that’s a good sign,” he said.

“Normally, the first game causes some injuries after a long break for some players, and now we’re closing into our second week and everybody’s fresh. Everybody wants to play, of course, big games for Jamaica and for each and every one personally so everybody’s fighting for us in the team — and that’s a good and happy sign.”

It’s not known if there will be any changes to the starting 11 today but it appears that striker Shamar Nicholson, who earned his 50th cap on Saturday, could retain his place in the line-up.

After working with the France-based player for the last two years, Hallgrimsson describes the former Boys’ Town player as, “A fantastic character; a little bit different from others in many things but [he] give[s] something extra into the squad.”

Hallgrimsson said while Nicholson did not score much in Ligue 1, he “always does well for Jamaica and he’s really passionate — sometimes over-passionate and overambitious. [He] keeps everyone on their toes, keeps a lot of happiness around, and [is] fun to be around.”

Nicholson leads a forward line that should include Antonio and Demarai Gray, who looked below his usual standard on Saturday.

The defence played well against the hard-running Mexicans on Saturday and, despite conceding a goal midway the second half, was able to match everything the Central Americans threw at them, with goalkeeper Jahmali Waite having an outstanding game while commanding his area well.

Today’s game kicks off at 5:00 pm Jamaica time.