Jamaica 1, Panama 1 in Friendly

Jamaica played to a 1-1 tie against Panama in an exhibition game on Monday night at the National Stadium in Jamaica. It was the first home game for new technical director Bora Milutinovic's and his young Reggae Boyz squad.

Panama struck early with a goal three minutes into the game. A superb pass split the Jamaican defenders giving Luis Garces a blistering close-range strike pass Whittaker in goal. The Boyz, boosted by the inclusion of Ricardo Gardener in midfield and Luton Shelton in a striker’s role, quickly recovered and went into action creating some good opportunities for Jamaica.

Missing at least two clear chances to equalize, the Boyz kept the momentum going with good movements off the ball and winning the midfield battles. Jamaica finally pulled level in the 45th when a Ricardo Gardener corner was headed on by Lovel Palmer to Lunton Shelton who scored a brilliant goal to end the half.

In the second half, Jamaica continued their domination of Panama, showing good chemistry and skill along with some purposeful attacks. At the final whistle the score remained unchanged with Jamaica getting 13 shots on goal to Panama’s Panama 9. Jamaica had 5 corners to Panama’s 1 and committed 18 fouls to Panama’s 25.

Jamaica: Richard McCallum, Allien Whittaker, Ricardo Gardener, Xavian Virgo, Oneil Smith, Jermaine Taylor, Christopher Harvey, Mario Harrison, Adrian Reid, Nicholy Finlayson, Demar Phillips, Mario Swaby, Fabian Davis, Donald Stewart, Lovel Palmer, Keneil Moodie, Donavan Davis, Fabian Taylor, Luton Shelton, Horace Howell, Andre Redwood, Kavin Bryan. Read more in the forum

A Visit to The Reggae Boyz Practice session

I stopped by the Lockhart Stadium to watch new look Reggae Boyz in their Wednesday morning practice session. The game against Switzerland will be the second game for newly appointed technical director Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic who guided Jamaica to win the Lunar New Year Cup in Hong Kong last month.

The players went through some light drills on a half field with two full sized goals. A lot of emphasis was on positional play with Bora stopping the session constantly to stress what he was trying to convey. He is a coach that gets involved with the plays, runs around with the players and stays on top of the action. The players seemed pretty relaxed and went through the session without anything impressive or outstanding. They also worked on some set plays and corners.

I had a chance to chat with the ever cool but hard working Howie Bell, team manager for the Reggae Boyz. He indicated that the team chemistry has been good and that all the players are working hard. Bell said he noticed an overall spirit of optimism with the players and that even the NPL players seems energized with the arrival of Bora.

The team that is going up against Switzerland is composed of about 8 under 23 players, Taylor the u23 captain, Reid, Moody, Virgo, Harrison, Finlayson, Davis and Powell, which are amoung the core that they are building on. Other players not on this trip includes Pierce, Morrisey, Plummer who were on the Hong Kong trip, Shelton, Priestly, White and Nathan Koo–Booth absent for various reasons. When Jamaica plays Panama, Bell expects that Bora will juggle the players some more as he is constantly evaluating them. He said the goal is 2010 and that is why the focus is on this age group. Bell thinks that Bora is a good choice and says that organization and unity is constantly stressed to the players. Bell would like to see the team able to create more scoring opportunities and better finishing and that all players should be capable of scoring, not just the forwards. He highlighted Taylor as a player that has shown the ability to score important goals.

I also met Bora and struggled to understand him verbally. I must credit the players as they seemed to understand (i hope) what he was conveying to them on the field. In response to my question on his impression of the players, Bora said he was happy with them, happy with the spirit they are showing, that they have more than lived up to his expectations. He likes the progess and is expecting much more improvements from them.

When asked about the deficiency of the team and what needs the most work, he immediately said “everywhere, as all areas must be strong and no single area is better than the other...this is why they will train hard to make the team better”. On his views on Jamaica he said “so far he was happy, everyone has been nice and everything is going ok”.

On my way out, I had a brief chat with Crenston Boxhill, President of the JFF. He said that he is very confident that they made the right choice in Bora and was happy that they finally got him. He made a good point that sometimes the public expects too much too soon and that many fans are not looking at what they are trying to achieved in the long term.

See More pictures on TheReggaeBoyz.com Forum

Reggae Boyz squad named to face Switzerland

Following yesterday’s round of play in the Wray & Nephew National Premier League the following squad has been selected to represent Jamaica against Switzerland in a friendly international game on Thursday, March 22 at the Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale.

Richard McCallum -Waterhouse -G.K.
Allien Whittaker – JDF- G.K.
Xavian Virgo -Boys Town -Defender
Oneil Smith -Boys Town -Defender
Jermaine Taylor - Harbour View – Defender
Christopher Harvey -Harbour View - Defender
Mario Harrison -Reno - Defender
Adrian Reid - Portmore - Defender
Nicholy Finlayson - Reno - Defender/Midfielder
Demar Phillips –Waterhouse -Defender/Midfielder
Mario Swaby – Portmore - Defender/Midfielder
Fabian Davis -Tivoli Gardens -Midfielder
Donald Stewart - Harbour View - Midfielder
Lovel Palmer - Harbour View - Midfielder
Keneil Moodie – Seba --Midfielder
Donavan Davis -St. George’s FC - Forward/Midfielder
Fabian Taylor - Harbour View - Forward/Midfielder
Horace Howell - Tivoli Gardens - Forward
Andre Redwood – JDF - Forward
Kavin Bryan Harbour View Forward

The squad features 16 of the 20 members of the recently successful Lunar New Year Cup team. Fabian Davis and Keneil Moodie have been included in this squad. Christopher Harvey who last represented Jamaica at the U-23 level in the 2002 CAC games in El Salvador has also been included along with Andre Redwood from the JDF who has been called to represent Jamaica for the first time. The team leaves the island on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 9:20am on Air Jamaica flight JM33. While in Ft. Lauderdale the team will train at the Lockhart Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:00pm.

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