 |
|
Jamaica's World Cup bid ends in tears
Reported By Mark Dunn ~PREMIDICTOR
6th May, 2007
Jamaica threw away their most glorious opportunity of making it to the World Cup on Sunday night when they were defeated 1-nil by Trinidad and Tobago in the final game of the CONCACAF Under-17 qualifiers at the National Stadium.
Needing a win to ensure qualification against a team they had previously beaten, the Jamaicans got off to the worst start imaginable when Kevin Molino scored a 13th minute goal to put the hosts most decidedly on the back foot.
The result meant Trinidad and Tobago have qualified for the World Cup in South Korea later this year.
Jamaica, once again started looking the team that would dominate, passing the ball around and creating the first oohs and aahs from the crowd as chances went a-begging.
However, those misses which, Dever Orgill must have rued, would return to haunt the Jamaicans, as Molino turned up between Kenniel Hyde at left-back and his left centre half not long after.
With space in front of him and a well weighted pass into his feet, Molino drove into the box and struck a rasping grounder to the far post that left the Jamaican crowd stunned.
At 1-nil down, the Jamaicans still looked the dominant team, but as it had been from the start of the final round, they made poor decisions in the final third and executed poorly when they did make the right choices.
Even before getting into the final third, the Jamaican midfield, without the calming influence of John Ross Doyley, made errors that could have cost them more, as Trinidad and Tobago, when they did win possession, looked supremely more dangerous than their opponents.
Despite that you would have put your money on Jamaica to at least find an equaliser.
When the first half ended and Jamaica hadn’t found it just yet, the speculations about the experience of the team and whether or not they would falter given the pressure of the situation began flying around.
The first signs of faltering began quite early in the half, when Jamaica started opting for long hopeful shots that had no real chance of turning into goals.
Trinidad and Tobago on the other hand showed great awareness of their situation and began stacking their backline with their midfielders making the good runs of Orgill and his teammate McKauly Tulloch almost obsolete.
The Jamaicans still managed to get chances though but again, poor execution was the order of the day in front of goal.
Players who had made differences in their last game, Akeem Brown and Andre Steele were summoned unto the park and they again seemed to add some spark but the results were not to their liking this time around.
Brown made some lovely forward passes and seemed unafraid to take on the Trinidadians, however, Steele, who was brought on as a midfielder never got the ball in positions as advanced as he would have liked.
For the most part he received the ball with too much work to do although, with the kind of confidence he exudes on the ball he still tried to run at the back line.
Brown’s tactic seemed to have been more successful and he did manage to create some chances. One of those passes, though fortuitiously, saw the bustling Tulloch, through on goal with Orgill beside him. Orgill being a little impetuous struck first and the ball barrelled into the back of the net.
The crowd erupted as they thought Jamaica had gotten the goal they had sought for most of the game. However, the death knell for the Jamaicans was sounded with a firm blast from the referee’s whistle and an upstretched arm, signalling offside.
With that chance went Jamaica’s hopes of making to the August World Cup and their coach David Hunt’s chances of keeping his job.
His announcement that he would resign in the press conference following the game came as no surprise.
Thus, the fate of Jamaica’s football at this stage looks grim. The country, at this point, doesn’t have any team in a World Tournament, not for the first time, but this is accentuated by the fact that the senior team also failed to qualify for the gold cup.
So it is with tears rather than rapturous applause that the Young Reggae Boyz, the final hope of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and the fans of the sport left the field on Sunday night, a glorious opportunity spurned like the numerous chances in the fateful final 90 minutes just ended.