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Hall: We must fight to the end
February 02, 2022
The Reggae Boyz must fight to the end if they want to earn maximum points against Costa Rica in today's crucial Concacaf World Cup qualifying match at the National Stadium this evening at 7 o'clock, says interim head coach Paul Hall.
Hall has seen his team surrender first half leads against Mexico and Panama to come out on the losing end, and he said they must give a greater effort to stop conceding goals late in games.
"We need to be fighting towards the end and stop letting goals in the final minutes of games. We need to address all that if we want to be successful," he said.
"If we can guarantee ourselves a clean sheet and we score, we win the game. The players have that mentality but when they are tired we tend to get punished harshly.
"When other teams make mistakes we are not punishing them as harshly as we are being punished, so I will give the players a reminder that from winning positions let's stay in the lead and do everything to achieve that," he said.
Jamaica recently lost 2-1 to Mexico and then 3-2 to Panama to slip one place in the standings to seventh with seven points.
Canada lead the standings with 22 points, followed by USA and Mexico with 18 each. Panama are next with 17, then Costa Rica 14 and El Salvador nine. Honduras are at the bottom of the table with three points.
At this point Jamaica can only earn a maximum 19 points. The Reggae Boyz must win today's game and hope that Mexico defeat Panama to maintain a mathematical chance of getting into the fourth place play-off spot. A defeat for Mexico also gives the Boyz a chance to overtake them but they (Mexico) have a far easier last two games, against Honduras and El Salvador while Panama have to face the United States and Canada.
Hall said the team has shown resilience despite the two losses and he thinks fitness and concentration could be reasons the team has struggled to see out games.
"We got resilience. We showed it against Mexico. The fact that we went one nil up in both games shows the players have it in them to go ahead and score goals.
"But the other part of that is the last 10-20 minutes in a game. It has been happening before my tenure so that is something that we need to speak about.
"It may be down to fitness or it may be down to concentration. It is something that we have to address and focus on. But the last 10 minutes is definitely something and it is likely to fitness," he surmised.
However, he believes they know enough about the Costa Ricans to know what to expect.
"This is not a great situation to be in but we find ourselves in it. I would like to win. Hopefully, we can get on the front foot being at home and take the game to them.
"We see what they are about and we know what they can do. They are a good team. The good thing is that we know about them. We have played them many times and we know what to expect. I am looking for a good performance and for the team to manage the game better," he added.Jamaica and Costa Rica drew 1-1 when the teams met in San Jose on September 8 last year.
Meanwhile, defender Damion Lowe will be unavailable for the game, after FIFA disciplinary committee handed him a two-match suspension for his red card against Mexico last Thursday.
Also for the fourth time in five home matches, the Boyz will have to face their opponents without the support of spectators in the stands.
