U-20 coach Duckie not bothered by loss to Costa Rica
Howard Walker
Monday, February 16, 2009
Jamaica's national Under-20 footballers turned in an uninspiring performance and were beaten 0-1 by Costa Rica at Brancourt on Saturday, but head coach Donovan Duckie was not perturbed as he achieved some objectives.
"What was important for us is to look at the chemistry of the team. We saw where they did not look as a unit so we will have to analyse the individual players," he said.
"I thought the exercise went well and in two games, I had the chance of seeing all the players. We made five changes to the starting team from Thursday's game which I thought we could have won," said Duckie. Jamaica started without captain Andre Darby, but welcomed back overseas-based Dever Orgill from Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada.
They started out slowly and fell behind in the 10th minute after Marco Urena reacted quicker than the Jamaican defenders and slotted home from close range. It was a deserved goal for the Costa Ricans who outplayed their Jamaican counterparts for most of the game.
Ronald Gonzalez, head coach of Costa Rica, said he was satisfied with his team's performance.
Said Gonzalez: "I am pleased with Costa Rica because the Jamaicans are very fast and skilful. It was very important that we played Jamaica because the play like Trinidad that will be in our group."
Duckie blamed, in part, a mix-up in match time for his team's downfall. He said he was not able to properly warm his players up for the game.
For the first time in 12 games we have warmed up for seven minutes, so we started very slow in the first half and this is the first time we are conceding a goal inside 13 minutes. They were faster to the ball than us," he said.
Jamaica, who drew 0-0 with Costa Rica on Thursday, will play Mexico on Tuesday at the Ferdie Neita Park in another International friendly. The Mexicans are expected to arrive in the island today.
The young Reggae Boyz are preparing for the CONCACAF final-round World Cup Qualifiers set for March 6-15 in Trinidad & Tobago and are drawn in Group A with USA, El Salvador and the winner of the Honduras/St Vincent play-off. The semi-finalists from the two groups will qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Egypt in September 2009.
Howard Walker
Monday, February 16, 2009
Jamaica's national Under-20 footballers turned in an uninspiring performance and were beaten 0-1 by Costa Rica at Brancourt on Saturday, but head coach Donovan Duckie was not perturbed as he achieved some objectives.
"What was important for us is to look at the chemistry of the team. We saw where they did not look as a unit so we will have to analyse the individual players," he said.
"I thought the exercise went well and in two games, I had the chance of seeing all the players. We made five changes to the starting team from Thursday's game which I thought we could have won," said Duckie. Jamaica started without captain Andre Darby, but welcomed back overseas-based Dever Orgill from Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada.
They started out slowly and fell behind in the 10th minute after Marco Urena reacted quicker than the Jamaican defenders and slotted home from close range. It was a deserved goal for the Costa Ricans who outplayed their Jamaican counterparts for most of the game.
Ronald Gonzalez, head coach of Costa Rica, said he was satisfied with his team's performance.
Said Gonzalez: "I am pleased with Costa Rica because the Jamaicans are very fast and skilful. It was very important that we played Jamaica because the play like Trinidad that will be in our group."
Duckie blamed, in part, a mix-up in match time for his team's downfall. He said he was not able to properly warm his players up for the game.
For the first time in 12 games we have warmed up for seven minutes, so we started very slow in the first half and this is the first time we are conceding a goal inside 13 minutes. They were faster to the ball than us," he said.
Jamaica, who drew 0-0 with Costa Rica on Thursday, will play Mexico on Tuesday at the Ferdie Neita Park in another International friendly. The Mexicans are expected to arrive in the island today.
The young Reggae Boyz are preparing for the CONCACAF final-round World Cup Qualifiers set for March 6-15 in Trinidad & Tobago and are drawn in Group A with USA, El Salvador and the winner of the Honduras/St Vincent play-off. The semi-finalists from the two groups will qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Egypt in September 2009.
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