REGGAE BOYZ coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said the team needs to be much braver in possession when they take on Panama in the Concacaf Nations League third-place play-off today at 5 p.m. at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, United States.
The Icelandic coach thought his team could have done more to possess the ball in their 3-1 semi-final defeat to the US on Thursday.
Although they only had one training session since the US game, to allow the players to recover from an exhausting 120 minutes, and have not been able to work much on the field with the team, Hallgrimsson has charged the players to be braver with the ball.
“We know Panama is a really good ball-possession team, but we need to be a little more brave on the ball. We will tweak a little bit what we did against US, and we will have fresh legs in this game.
“So there will be some changes but we want to be braver on the ball,” he insists.
“There is not a lot you can do in two days after playing 120 minutes. So we limited things to meetings rather than on the pitch. So it’s just tweaking things and being more brave on the ball.”
Hallgrimsson is expecting a very difficult match against one of the most interesting teams in the region, and heaped praises on his opponents and coach Thomas Christiansen.
However, he noted that they will not move away from the good things they did in their heart-wrenching extra-time defeat to the US.
“This is one of the most interesting teams in Concacaf, I would say, Panama. Give a lot of credit to Christiansen, who has done a wonderful job for the almost four years he has had the team.
“It is a team that is nice and joyful to watch. Lots of possession and rotation and movements, but an honest team that is going to do the job that is necessary.
“So we need to use what we did well against the US and build on that. We shouldn’t deviate from all the good things we did in that game,” he said.
He added that the biggest challenge was getting the players to recover and be fresh for today’s encounter.
“The biggest problem is getting the players fit and fresh after playing a tough game against the US. Not only was it tough, 120 minutes, but the psychological of losing in that manner was also tough to recover from.
“So that is the biggest challenge, to get the players ready for another big contest,” he said.
Meanwhile, midfield Joel Lattibeaudiere said securing third spot would mean the ‘world’ to the team.
“It would mean a lot. Personally and as a team after what we came through to get here.
“We didn’t take the easy route. So it would mean the world to us to get on that podium, and I know how much it would mean to the fans back in Jamaica.
“But we want to prove to ourselves and the world that we are not just here to take part, we are here to challenge the best in Concacaf.”
