The Jamaican men’s national team will be without several of its key players for Thursday’s CONCACAF Nations League semifinal vs. the United States, but USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter has his squad even more ready for the matchup.
The Americans are two-time reigning champions of the competition and will be seeking a three-peat this week. Jamaica, however, will be at a major disadvantage with star attackers Leon Bailey and Michail Antonio out of the squad while Demarai Gray and Shamar Nicholson are suspended for the match.
The USMNT have failed to defeat Jamaica in their last two head-to-head showdowns and are ready for a tough challenge against the Reggae Boyz, regardless of their key absentees.
“It puts us on higher alert,” Berhalter said Wednesday in his pre-match press conference. “We’re not taking this team lightly. And now with these guys missing, it’s even more serious. I spoke to the team about this today. The guys that are going to get their opportunity tomorrow night.
“They’re going to be giving everything to show this coach they want to be part of the squad for Copa America,” he added. “So, it’s a dangerous game for us. We’re going to be really focused on trying to play a good game and get to the final.”
Jamaica still possesses many talents in its squad from star MLS goalkeeper Andre Blake to attackers Bobby Decordova-Reid and Jamal Lowe. The Reggae Boyz have only lost six of their 20 matches during Hallgrimsson’s spell as manager, defeating Canada in the CNL quarterfinals and also registering positive results against Mexico, Haiti, and Honduras in 2023.
Although its last competitive win over the USMNT came in 2015, Jamaica won’t have as much pressure on themselves as the United States will.
“We think that the quality that they have is so good,” Berhalter said. “They’re missing their top talent, but they still have enough to be a very competitive team and a very difficult team…They’re [Concacaf Nations League] very difficult games. So, we expect the same thing.
“We know Jamaica is a robust team,” he added. “We know they’re going to fight to the end. We saw that against Canada in the quarterfinals of the Nations League. So, we’re preparing for a very difficult opponent tomorrow.”
The winner of the USMNT-Jamaica showdown will face either Mexico or Panama on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
Real high alert there!
We were up 4-0 on aggregate plus had the away goal so TnT needed 5 goals to defeat us. It was fully under control.
Basically, Jamaica is missing its starting front 3, plus their best LB. Blake has been giving up 2 or more goals in 3 of his 5 starts this season. All while the US has almost all of their first choice players. With that as the backdrop if they lose to Jamaica, this should be a must win for Gregg 2.0. A weaker team than the GC squad drew with just a few months ago.
/remember the T&T loss? They were missing their best player and a lot of their players in that game played in the USL, or even a lower league. We should win in a walk, but if they are not focused they could find a way to lose.
Hopefully no one loses their mind like Serge. US was cruising until Dest’s stupidity.
we weren’t cruising which is half the reason dude flipped out. game 1 it takes 82′ to score at home before the dam finally breaks, and lucky for us badly enough we get a cushion. game 2 it takes 25′ to score and they are getting plenty of their own chances from the opening whistle, and playing physical. we were probably fairly frustrated and then dest just lost it. i do think if he keeps his cool it’s a workmanlike 2-1 or so our favor, but bear in mind this was a team we were putting 6 or 7 past previously. GB then mishandled the man-down situation.
you want my 2 cents ever since we flipped over to naive attacking formations and tactics — roughly when JK got the gig — we have been hotter at home and cooler away. we every couple years challenge records for margin of victory in home NT games. the game before couva we shredded panama. but our road record sucks. you want to win on the road you need a functioning defensive formation and defenders out there able to do what the box says they are supposed to do.
while perhaps cruder than necessary old school US teams had more of a grasp on what made this competitive. and if you go back and look at prior qualifying runs, we would finish higher and average more table points per game. we were much more effective at the cliched win home tie away. and occasionally won away. which is done with efficient defensive soccer. we now win at home by even bigger scores but can’t get road points to save our lives, even in places like guatemala, trinidad, panama, etc. and that’s how you finish 3rd in quali.
you want to start winning games in places like trinidad, install working team defense and emphasize offensive efficiency. find your 9, finish your chances. it sounds basic but half the time the 9 is in witness protection and we don’t look like we have a plan. and chasing teams way upfield with pressing is just asking for it.
i took GB’s paean to jamaica to be some combination of artificial motivation — act like they are better than they are so you play harder — or avoiding providing bulletin board motivation to the other side. to me these things are decided by how well sorted and prepared you are. part of that is the general system and how well it works to break down other teams. part is watching opposing game film and coming up with “exploits” where you see some weakness. part is in game adjustments.
the system sucks and the coach doesn’t adjust. we occasionally come up with some exploit but it’s usually a weak team like cuba — that one side you could go down all day.
no, to me this wins on superior talent and fitness with all that implies on the manager. we win because we have a better team most of the time, have subs who would start for other NT, and can outlast opponents.
the roster comparisons are fanboy stuff. you want to win soccer games regularly, you need a well-oiled attacking strategy with definite, rehearsed ideas who is being fed and how, and an airtight backline and team defense concept. our attack is mostly improvised. our defense is porous. you want to regularly win games like this, you need to have a more balanced system that works like it’s on rails. we are vulnerable in games like this because while we are capable of putting up goals, we aren’t actually rehearsed at it, and while we have some defensive talent, we’re taking pressing risks, wingback risks, and insufficiently dedicated as either formation or individuals to doggedly thwarting teams with meat and potatoes defense for 90′. so it comes a little too much down to whether improvisations are clicking on a night.
and if you leave bad teams in games with inefficient efforts of your own, bad stuff happens. the roster stuff is the worst aspect of it. even in youth select it’s not 2 teams show up and the best one wins. you don’t do your job and the other team does, you lose. this is part of why i am like, focus on which of our players actually perform for the NT. quit picking an all star team. pick guys who show up on game day and execute a prepared concept. you will then have more whoopings and less nasty surprises.
i should add, GB’s job with the media is provide cliches. GB’s job with the team is come up with a working system and find exploits on game film. his job in the lockerroom is not to exaggerate jamaica and exhort them to work hard. that’s not good coaching. that’s what weak teams do. good teams execute a game plan they hope will break down the other side. either a usual one that mostly works.
or something they saw on film. that’s intellectual as opposed to motivational.
to me part of our deficit is for all the talking up new soccer, this remains an “effort” team scoring blood and guts goals or lucky flicks in world cups. i expected more trickery and use of skill. GB’s offense is designed more to slowly possess than quickly out-wit.
IV,
“GB’s offense is designed more to slowly possess than quickly out-wit.”
That usually works in CONCACAF because chasing the ball is more tiring that keeping possession and overall, the USMNT player pool tends to be in more game fit shape than most CONCACAF teams.
But nothing is 100%