Brown
Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer
WHEN JAMAICA take the field at 6:00 p.m. this evening against neighbours Haiti it will be the toughest assignment for Technical Director Carl Brown.
The man who once captained the national team and is now conditioning them is fully aware of what faces him.
"This could be the most important game that we have played in the last five years," Brown told The Gleaner yesterday.
"The continuation of the entire programme rides on this," he continued.
With this in mind, Brown has been busy preparing his charges all week for the big clash between the two Caribbean countries that have qualified for the World Cup. Haiti qualified for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.
VIEWS
The views of a number of fans have not escaped the ears of Brown and his players and as such one of his major focuses was to get the players in the frame of mind to carry out the job required.
"It (criticism) will help to make the players want to perform better. I have grown to understand that people will have different views and the players are appreciating that too," Brown said.
"The players understand the magnitude of the game and the people have spoken so it is clear," he continued.
As to the match itself, Brown conceded that a number of changes - tactical and personnel - will have to be made if Jamaica are to give a better show than they did last Saturday.
"Firstly we need to limit the playing space for the Haitians. We allowed them too much space the last time around and as a result of that we will have to make some changes," Brown explained.
"There will definitely be a change in formation. We could look at a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 as there were a number of things that I was not satisfied with yesterday (Friday) but they will be ironed out today (Saturday)," he continued.
In the first leg Jamaica employed a 5-3-2 formation with the idea of containing the Haitians. That translated in Jamaica surrendering the midfield and being outplayed.
Today's posture will be more attacking.
"The 4-4-2 is what we have basically been working with at home and it has worked for us. We have also looked at what the Haitians have to offer and based on that we have made our changes to counter that. Additionally this could free up one player to make us more attacking while still being solid in defence," was how Brown explained his possible change of strategy.
The pace at which the Haitians played and their usage of the flanks also played a part in Brown's decision.
"The Haitians played at a good pace and also played a lot of their passes down the flanks and we have to counter that. That to a degree is influencing what we are doing at the moment," said Brown, who is keen to capitalise on the home advantage.
One thing though that could cause Brown to alter his plans is injury to key players. Among the players with question marks over their heads are defensive rock Ian Goodison, forwards Ricardo Fuller and Taylor, Midfielders Jamie Lawrence and Theodore Whitmore.
Lawrence, no stranger to injuries, suffered a facial injury in training on Friday but Brown insisted that he will play.
"Jamie will play. That is nothing to keep him out. Goodison we will have to look at later but luckily the doctors said there were no broken bones or any muscular damage."
He added: Goodison is usually is at is best in situations like these.
As for Fuller, Brown said he is about "80 per cent fit and is day to day". Fellow striker Taylor is not so lucky as he "did not look too well on Friday".
If everything works according to plan then Brown will realise his dream of achieving a similar success to the Boyz of 1998.
