NEW German coach Winfried Schafer once again came in for high praises, while the Reggae Boyz were hit
hard for their lack of commitment and cohesiveness by local coaches Calvert Fitzgerald and Jerome Waite.Jamaica battled to a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica and are still rooted to the bottom of the hexagonal with four points with only a mathematical chance of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Finals.Both Costa Rica, on 15 points, and leaders USA with 16 points following their 2-0 blanking of Mexico, have secured their berths to Brazil 2014.Honduras, on 11 points, are out of the Reggae Boyz’s reach, but both Panama and Mexico on eight points each, are in sight for that fourth play-off spot.Veteran coach Calvert Fitzgerald, the man in charge of Rivoli United, believes Schafer’s counter-attacking tactic was the best suited for the occasion, contrary to popular belief that a desperate all-out attack for maximum points would be the ideal thing.“We started slowly and were playing on the break and I didn’t have a problem with it. Costa Rica being at the head of the table going to the World Cup at this stage must have been a very good team, so I didn’t expect us to come and play open football against them,” argued Fitzgerald.“Being that Costa Rica is a good attacking team, if we could catch them on the break, then I thought that was our only chance of victory,” he pointed out.“If we had played open football they could have burnt us because they have some extremely quick and skilful players in attack. So we had to hold, it wasn’t the prettiest idea, but we had to try to catch them on the counter,” he reiterated.“I thought the plan worked to near perfection except that a most unfortunate mistake by the goalkeeper cost us. We finally got the goal that we wanted but we had let in a goal,” Fitzgerald added.He pointed out that despite Jamaica’s gloomy position, a draw against Costa Rica, can be seen as a positive in light of the fact that it was the top team in the group versus the bottom-placed team.“So to get a point from that team must mean that we are doing something better than we were doing before. Had we had this form from the beginning of the hexagonal round maybe we would be right up there with the top teams,” said Fitzgerald.Meanwhile, Waite, the coach of Charlie Smith High School, puts the blame on the players for Jamaica’s current predicament.“The time that the coach get the team we can’t expect any miracle. But the present crop of players are not playing a system, but individuals doing their own things,” said Waite, who led Arnett Gardens to back-to-back Premier League titles in 2001 and 2002.“In the defensive third, the workload will be a lot cause they spend more time defending while in the midfield (and) there are so much room for improvement there. They are playing in spurts and not playing cohesively as a unit, while upfront, I can’t find a word for it, but it’s one of our downfalls. There is no teamwork, we are not working together collectively… the transition is too slow,” emphasised Waite.He added that “there is too much room for improvement” knowing that the players are professionals and “I have to wonder, what they are really doing at the professional level,” he said.“This coach has not been given the opportunity to spend time to work with the players. He has the knowledge towards the game he knows what a system is all about and the little time that he is here he knows that Jamaica cannot play the 4-4-2 format,” said Waite.“So he took the time out, analysed the individuals and made the adjustment and played three in front of the goal, compact the midfield and find two players who hopefully can get the job done,” he noted.Reggae Boyz striker Marlon King (left) gets by Costa Rica’s Christian Gamboa during their World Cup qualifying match at the National Stadium on Tuesday night. The game ended 1-1. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)View the original article here
Schafer gets passing grade from local colleagues
