Hallgrimsson hails local Boyz
Published:Friday | November 11, 2022 | 5:57 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
National senior men’s coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has hailed the local Reggae Boyz after the team’s 1-1 draw with hosts Cameroon on Wednesday. The head coach said he couldn’t have asked for more. He was very impressed by their attitude and application at the Omnisport Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Justin McMaster scored on his international debut in the 60th minute, but substitute Djawal Kaiba equalised in the 74th minute as both teams shared the spoils in their first-ever international meeting.
It was the second game for Hallgrimsson since his appointment as head coach in September with a squad that comprised of some players that have had international experience, but was made up of mostly locally based talent, with some of them getting their first call-up.
Against a team en route to Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup that will begin in nine days’ time, Hallgrimsson said that given that majority of the players were either in their off-season or just starting their campaigns, the members of the team gave a good account of themselves, while he continues to cultivate his vision for the Jamaica squad.
“It is a pretty good result for Jamaica. Playing that early in the season, most of the players don’t have a lot of games under their belts and they were playing in a difficult environment. Probably the biggest crowd most of the players have played in front of, with 44,000 supporting the opponents; pretty intimidating circumstances, and then playing a World Cup team. I think we can be quite happy with the result,” Hallgrimsson said after the game.
It is still the early days of his reign as head coach, as the focus now shifts towards 2023, with the international window closed for Jamaica for the year 2022, a year that has seen upheaval and difficulties both on and off the field.
With an eye towards two major competitions for next year, Hallgrimsson said that he was most pleased with how the players responded to what the coaching staff has tried to teach them over the past few days, despite the limited training time, although acknowledging that there are still improvements to be made with the quality of play.
“I am more happy with the players; how they behaved, how professional they were in the camp, and how much they took in of what we were trying to teach them,” Hallgrimsson said. “The game itself, of course we need to improve a lot. I think that is easy to understand when these players haven’t played a lot together. So overall, we are just happy.”
The international focus now shifts to the World Cup, which kicks off on November 20. Hallgrimsson lost his opening game to Argentina two months ago, mere weeks after he was confirmed as head coach.