Reggae Boyz hunt group glory

Audley Boyd, Associate Editor - Sports

WEEHAWKEN, New Jersey:

JAMAICA will make six changes to its starting eleven for tonight's CONCACAF Gold Cup Group B decider against Honduras, when both teams clash at the Red Bulls Arena in the Meadowlands, starting at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Jamaica time).

The match will follow a 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Jamaica time) opener between Guatemala and Grenada.

"As much as this game is important, we have a squad of players and a number of changes will be made going into this match and I think these players we are injecting will be hungry," said Reggae Boyz head coach, Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore. "So I think it will be more difficult for the Honduran team because they are looking at us and they know what we have, but I think they have a next guess coming."

Goalkeeper Dwayne Miller, Adrian Reid, Omar Daley, Keammar Daley, Jevaughn Watson and Damian Williams who will play central midfield, are getting starts.

The Daleys have been very effective in previous matches off the bench, Keammar providing scoring chances in both games and Omar netting a goal in his only game against Grenada.

Among those excluded from Jamaica's first team are captain and central defender, Shavar Thomas, and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who also leads the team sometimes. Jermaine Taylor will wear the captain's armband.

Whitmore pointed out that yellow cards have played a role in team selection, preferring to rest key players with one booking on the sidelines and prevent them from picking up a second, which would rule them out of the more important quarter-finals, which marks the beginning of the knockout phase.

With maximum six points from two matches, the Jamaicans need only a draw to top the group. The Hondurans have four points and would overtake their opponents with victory.

A loss could also place Honduras' chances of advancing in jeopardy, as only the top two teams are guaranteed safe passage into the quarter-finals.

Leapfrog

Guatemala have one point and could leapfrog Honduras on goal difference, should the latter lose and they beat weak Grenada by a margin that, coupled with the Jamaica result, make Guatemala's goal difference superior to their Central American rivals.

Both played out a nil-all finish in their opening match and having got a couple good looks at Honduras, Whitmore reckons they have shortcomings, but will prove to be difficult foes.

"It is going to be tough, but the Hondurans, they leave a lot of spaces and it is for us to exploit these spaces," Whitmore observed. "But again, we just have to play our game, the possession game, exploit the spaces and finish as well."

He added: "We have realised that they tend to (flop) and another thing is the quick restart from those free kicks, which we have to adjust ourselves to. But this bunch of players has been together for quite some time and game by game we keep improving and we see signs of what is to come and I think for the World Cup qualifying it will be something to look forward to."

Winning the group would send Jamaica to a quarter-final match-up against the third-place Group C team in Washington DC. Panama lead with six points from two wins, followed by the United States and Canada, which have three apiece after both losing one match. They have one remaining game.

The runner-up will play the runner-up from Group A, which will most likely be Costa Rica, at Red Bull Arena.

"With the win we understand that we can win the group," said Honduras' coach Fernando Suarez."It (Jamaica) is a hard team. They're very fast. They have very good attacking players. The counterattack could be a problem.

"They might give us space and for that we have to be careful, but we're still going to work hard and we're still aiming to win the group."

The countries have met three times in Gold Cup competition, with Honduras winning twice (5-0, 1991) and (2-0, 2000), while Jamaica claimed a 3-1 success in 1993, one of the occasions when they recorded their highest finish, third.

In their most recent matches, qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, the teams traded home wins with the Reggae Boyz succeeding 1-0 in Kingston after going down 2-0 in San Pedro Sula to second-half goals.

Jamaica placed third again in 1998, when their football was on a high and Theodore Whitmore was chief architect in the team, dictating the plays from midfield.

These Reggae Boyz are also showing tremendous form and have drawn comparisons with their much-acclaimed history-making compatriots.

In their two opening matches, they hammered Grenada 4-0 at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles and were similarly efficient in not allowing any goals, while dominating Guatemala 2-0 at the Florida International University, in Miami.

Demar Phillips has been key, scoring three of the goals.

Jamaica did not start well against Guatemala, playing contrary to their dominating ball-possession game.

"I thought in the first 15-20 minutes of the game complacency set in and the Guatemalans were all over us and then we realised that we were in for a game and then we started to play. It is a lesson for us, so we have to start from the first whistle against Honduras tomorrow,Ó he said.

JAMAICA STARTING TEAM: Dwayne Miller (GK), Jason Morrison, Adrian Reid, Jermaine Taylor (captain), Damian Williams, Omar Daley, Demar Phillips, Keammar Daley, Dane Richards, Jevaughn Watson, Ryan Johnson.