What the Reggae Boyz Are Up Against

There is a saying that the further back we look is the further forward we will see. Well if we do this we won’t see Jamaica going to the World Cup next year 2014 in Brazil. Based on history and statistics, we SHOULD not go through. Needless to say I will not attempt to use this as my basis as to why I expect Jamaica to go through to the 2014 World Cup.

Lifetime H2H stats

Costa Rica has won 9 of our 15 games, scoring 32 goals to our 7 goals. We have beaten Costa Rica once which was at our home. They have beaten us thrice here at our home.

Honduras has won 9 of our 17 games, scoring 26 goals to our 15 goals. We have beaten Honduras 5 times, 4 times at our home. They have beaten us 3 times at our home.

USA has won 7 of our 17 games, scoring 25 goals to our 11 goals. We have beaten USA once at our home. USA has beaten us once at our home.

Mexico has won 18 of our 23 games, scoring a whopping 63 goals to our 9 goals. We have beaten Mexico thrice at our home. They have beaten us 4 times at our home.

I covered Panama in a previous post. We have a better record against this team than any other team.

All the teams in this final round have superior records against us bar none. However, we were able to beat them all at our home (although they beat us here too). On current form though, there is little that separates the teams and this is what I am banking on to take us through to Brazil 2014; and the fact that it’s the first that this Jamaica unit played as a team in competition and was able to achieve what it did in Mexico.

We have to beat these teams when they come to our home. And go for a win on the road but if necessary settle for a draw. Playing for a win doesn’t have to mean exposing your back line (ask Spain). Spain knows their defence line can’t even walk fast, so they don’t allow teams to test their speed (they would fail that test every time), hence them keeping the ball for long periods. We MUST control the tempo of the games at home and be deliberate in our attacks.

© 2013 Antonio Bell. All rights reserved

Disclaimer

All information posted in this blog are my personal views and don’t reflect the view of any Association, Federation or Governing Body.