‘Guatemala friendly was a distraction’

Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says their recent international friendly against Guatemala was a distraction, following the teams’ 0-0 draw at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, United States, on Saturday.

Hallgrimsson revealed that the game was not arranged on request from the coaching staff, who he said would have preferred to focus on the team’s crucial two-leg Gold Cup playoff tie coming up against Canada.

Nevertheless, he thought it was a great opportunity to see some of the fringe players and what they are capable of for the first time.

“The decision to play this game was taken by the federation and not us (coaches) requesting it.

“It is kind of unfair when (fringe) players are trying to prove a point that they should play in the national team and you only give them two training sessions and one match.

“You want to spend more time on the pitch and give them more playing time when you are looking at players and giving them a chance,” he said.

Hallgrimsson, however, said it was good to get to know the players while adding that there were some really good characters and some really good guys.

FOCUS DISTRACTION

“We now know more about them and that is a good thing but considering the importance of the two Canada matches this was a focus distraction for the staff and the coaches. We should have been focusing on these two important Canada matches. So it wasn’t our favourite to play this game.”

He pointed out that the technical staff already have plans to give fringe players, local players and young players a more profound look-in, with a camp specifically for this group of players in January when many of the leagues will be on break for the holidays. He, however, acknowledged that the Guatemala game gave them a good head start.

“We have planned the year and we want to take January and focus on these players, the fringe players, young players, the domestic players.

“But when we go again in January we will know a little bit about these players. So in the end it was good that we did it, even though I think that when we have important matches we should put full focus on them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hallgrimsson thought the players, many of whom were playing together for the first time, gave a good account of themselves, with even Jon Bell earning a call-up for the Canada games based on his impressive first half against the Guatemalans.

“It was not an exciting match. There were not a lot of goalscoring chances and we have to give our players credit for that.

“Guatemala are a good team. They are good at counter pressing. We knew it from the Gold Cup, we struggled a lot against them with their counter pressing football. So we can be quite happy even though we didn’t create a lot of goalscoring chances,” the Reggae Boyz head coach said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com