Mission accomplished

Reggae Boyz coach Rudolph Speid believes he has seen what he needs to from local talent ahead of the team’s crucial World Cup play-off games next month.

Speid, the man tasked with getting the Reggae Boyz to recover from their World Cup qualification meltdown and maybe still get a place in the final, had the team play against Martinique in a friendly last night, the 2-0 win paling in comparison to the bigger goal.

Jamaica got goals from Nickyle Ellis in the 22nd minute, while Daniel Green doubled the score in 64th.

But, according to Speid, the result wasn’t the most important part of the exercise.

“Right, so this game was really to help to shape some type of pattern, standards that we wanted to play.

“Also, this team is local-based. As you know, we have players from overseas, so we wanted to establish the players that we can depend on in the play-off if we need to call on them. I think we did that,” said Speid.

According to the coach, he saw some good signs from the players.

“Oh yes, I thought the players were in control for most of the game. They moved the ball well, they didn’t have to rush their plays.

“I just thought that the players acclimatised well and a few players really stood out for us today,” he said.

Speid also pointed out that Martinique provided good competition for the team, allowing him to really have a look at the aspects of the game he wanted to.

“I thought they started sprightly, very well initially, but I think, as soon as we scored, they had to dig a little deeper, and I thought they put up a really good fight until we scored the second goal, and I suppose we were just in cruise control. The game would have dropped in quality somewhat when they started to make changes. So that’s what happened at the end of the game.

“But I thought Martinique played extremely well for a team that doesn’t have the international experience that we have. I think they did well.”