( L - R ) Jamaica's Tyrone Marshall, Costa Rica's Walter Centeno , Jamaica's Jermaine Johnson
COLUMBUS, Ohio:
WARY of the consequences that will follow another bad result, the Reggae Boyz are focused on beating Costa Rica when the teams meet in a CONCACAF Gold Cup match at the Columbus Crew Stadium this evening at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Jamaica time).
Like Jamaica, the Costa Ricans lost their opening game on Friday in Los Angeles and both are under pressure to deliver in today's Group A battle, the opening match of a double-header, as only the top two from each group are guaranteed qualification to the quarter-finals.
"Both teams will be looking for a win and everybody will be coming in an attacking mood, but we will just have to be patient," said Theodore Whitmore, head coach of the Jamaica team. "We don't want to go all out and leave our back open, so we will have to be patient and approach this game in a different manner."
Continuing, Whitmore pointed out: "We have to stay focused, we know what we have to do, we know our backs are against the wall. The Costa Ricans are going to be tough, both of us lost our opening games.
"We know our team is capable of scoring goals. We missed some easy chances in the last game and it is up to us to capitalise on those chances, even the half-chances."
There are three groups of four contesting the preliminaries, and the top two second-place countries will take the additional slots.
El Salvador and Canada gave themselves a headstart in Group A on Friday by winning, to move to three points while keeping their opponents in the blocks on nought. The Salvadoreans beat Costa Rica 2-1, while Jamaica went down 1-0 to Canada.
Both meet in today's feature game at the Columbus Crew Stadium, which is set to kick off at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Jamaica time).
By that time, just like Whitmore, Costa Rica's coach Rodrigo Kenton is hoping his team would have done enough to have narrowed the gap in the points standings, even though the Central American admitted his team was facing "equal pressure like Jamaica".
Kenton noted that the "Jamaica team is strong, physical and has three very talented players". He singled out midfielder Jermaine 'Teddy' Johnson, who had an outstanding game against Canada.
Opponent plans
The midfielder admitted hearing of plans by the opponents to shackle him, but Johnson he is not "focused on that."
"I just want to go out there and do what I have to do to help the team get a win against Costa Rica. It's important for us to win. We need to come focused with our 'A' game."
The coach also pointed out that his team had problems in defence and said they were "likely to make changes."
Whitmore said he would also be making changes to his starting eleven, specifically on the forward line.
"Definitely, we will make a couple of changes to the team," he remarked. "Basically up front. I haven't finalised the changes as yet because I will have to sit and talk to (Rodolph) Austin before, because he had trouble with his hamstring Friday night.
"I also have concerns about Jason Morrison and his fitness as well, but after this evening's training session, I will finalise the team," Whitmore explained ahead of the team's final tune-up, which took place at the Columbus Crew Stadium yesterday evening at match time.
His strike combination of Ricardo Fuller and Luton Shelton did not combine well throughout the first match, but Shelton says they were keen to sort out that problem.
"In the last game, we weren't combining well with each other," Shelton said. "We talked about it last night and it's something we want to improve on ... It's good if you have two strikers playing together and working together."
Whitmore's frontline options also include Omar Cummings, Nicholas Addlery and Dane Richards, who play professionally in the Major League Soccer here, while the midfield option, if any of the central midfielders are unavailable, could fall to Oneil Thompson, who came on as a substitute in that position against Canada.
Additionally, Whitmore had long been complaining about the team's defensive coordination. It wasn't smooth on Friday, and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts had to make a couple of outstanding saves, but the Reggae Boyz have done a fair amount of work and there is hope that there will be improvements. Much of it, Whitmore explained, involves communication.
"It was a bit of communication with our defenders. No disrespect, but we missed someone like an Ian Goodison, because he's the man to give that command, even if he's not giving one hundred per cent. We need another person, like a Peter Cargill, someone who, when he talks, it is law out there."
He added: "We haven't left it up to any one person, but we want Tyrone Marshall to be that commander around the back there."
Marshall is the sweeper, while Damion Stewart and Claude Davis are others given the task to slow the slick-moving Costa Ricans, who like Jamaica, have nothing to show for their first-game dominance.
Los Ticos (the Costa Ricans) head CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with 12 points after winning four of their five matches. They beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-2, the US 3-1, El Salvador 1-0, and Honduras 2-0. Mexico ended their successful run with a 2-0 win.
Inspiration
The last time they met Jamaica, in February last year, the contest ended 1-1 in Kingston. They also beat Venezuela 1-0 in a friendly match last Sunday.
In their opening match, Walter Centeno, their captain, marshalled their plays, with good support mainly from Alvaro Saborio, Leobardo Gonzalez and Celso Borges.
While they will look again to those players for inspiration, Whitmore believes his team has the tools to rebound.
"To be honest, no disrespect to any team, but I think we have a team capable of doing the job," he said. "It is just that at the end of the day, it is (about) going on to the field and doing the job."