Hallgrimsson hoping for improved performance
Published:Tuesday | September 12, 2023 | 12:09 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is hoping for an improved performance when the Reggae Boyz take on Haiti in their League A Group B Concacaf Nations League match at the National Stadium at 7:06 p.m. today.
Despite beating Honduras 1-0 in their opening game on Friday, it was an underwhelming display from the Reggae Boyz, especially in midfield. But Hallgrimsson revealed that their lack of coordination dominated discussions after the game and that he is looking forward to an upgraded performance this evening.
“That (poor coordination) has been the biggest talking point since the last game. Our attacking game, our build-up game was not good. We have been addressing these issues of what we can do. We have some new players with us, so it’s natural that they do not get it first time. Also, whatever we said a month ago in the Gold Cup, the players have spent all this time with their clubs probably doing totally different things. So we always have to remind them what we want to do. We were struggling in the creation zone, in building up to finding the middlemen and to create,” he said.
Hallgrimsson thinks the work they have done in training since then has gone well, but he pointed out that Haiti are a better team than Honduras and will present a greater difficulty and that they cannot be as sloppy as they were against Honduras, as they could pay the consequences this time around.
“It (training) has been as best as it can be. The players have been pretty good after the Honduras game. There are a lot of things we can improve from the last game, especially on the ball. We have been working on that, talking together about that. Hopefully, we can show that against Haiti, and we need to, because, in our opinion, Haiti are stronger opponents than Honduras. They have more technique in their team, better individuals. So they are more likely to punish us if we make the same mistakes we did against Honduras. It’s going to be a tough game, a very difficult game to get three points, but that is what we are aiming at,” he stated
The Haitians, despite playing at home in their first game against Cuba, could only manage a 0-0 draw, and Hallgrimsson believes having the upper hand in the points table is an advantage going into the game. Nevertheless, he said a sound defensive display will be key.
“We need a solid defensive performance. We always have to improve that coordination because if we want to go to Copa America or World Cup, we will find opponents that will punish us if we are not good in these areas. So we want to improve in that area. Against Honduras when we lost possession, they didn’t manage to punish us, but better teams will, so we need to be more careful in our build-ups.
“But I think we have an advantage having three points in our bag. We can take more chances than Haiti, who only have one. So we know their mindset coming into the game. They need three points to stay in the fight for qualifying. So it’s a little bit of psychological advantage to have the three points in our bag,” he said.
Meanwhile, the starting team from Friday’s game could change for this fixture, with captain Andre Blake returning to training after a bout of flu, while striker Samar Nicholson has fully recovered from his jetlag and will be fit to start.
Overall, the Reggae Boyz have had good results against Haiti, but they were blanked 2-0 the last time the teams met at the National Stadium on September 6, 2016, in a World Cup qualifying game. Jamaica, however, won the previous three games against the Haitians, 1-0 twice in 2015 and 2-0 in 2014.