TORONTO, Canada, CMC – Jamaica head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson was full of praise for his side after their comeback 3-2 win against hosts Canada in their final Concacaf Nations League group match on Tuesday.
Shamar Nicholson was the hero for the Jamaicans, scoring a second-half brace. The Reggae Boyz logged their first win on Canadian soil in the second leg of their League A quarterfinal at BMO Field to book their place in the semi-finals and as a guest team in the prestigious Copa America, the South American championship, to be staged from June 20 to July 14 next year in the United States.
Jamaica tied the two-legged quarterfinal series against the Canadians 4-4 on aggregate and earned their place in the final four, along with Panama, Mexico, and hosts United States, on the away-goal, tie-breaker rule.
“After the World Cup, the Copa America is on the same scale as the Euros in terms of quality of teams that are there, the quality of the individuals playing,” Hallgrimsson said during a post-match news conference.
“For Jamaica, and especially the [Jamaica Football] Federation (JFF), it’s huge. I’m just putting into perspective [that] this was probably the most important game for Jamaica in a long time.”
He added: “When you’re building a team, and you can play a tournament like Copa America, it helps a lot in the development because that’s the only time a coach can spend with the players [for] a month or month-and-a-half.
“When you add another tournament, the semi-final, and hopefully a final of the Nations League, it allows us to be together much longer than a short Fifa break, especially in Jamaica when players always come a day or two late because of distance … It gives us a chance to grow as a team. The biggest thing is financial for the JFF, which doesn’t have much money, so it’s a big thing in many ways.”
On the turnaround in fortunes in the match, Hallgrimsson put it down to a few senior players, motivating the others to push harder.
“There was nothing to lose,” he said. “We needed two goals before starting the kick-off, and we still needed two goals at least at half-time, and I have to give credit to the players because they rallied up at half-time. It was all or nothing, and they went in with that attitude.
“They decided to go like this, gung-ho, and just press against them, and it worked. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But (in this match) it worked, but it was all the players.”
The Boyz will face the Americans in the semi-finals on March 21 next year, the same day Panama meets Concacaf giants Mexico in the other semi.
Both matches will be played at the world-renowned AT&T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys, in the American city of Arlington in Texas, which will also host the tournament final three days later.
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