Brown
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Carl Brown says the key to Jamaica advancing in the CONCACAF group semi-final World Cup qualifiers rests largely on winning their away match against Panama.
Only two teams from the four-nation Group One will advance to CONCACAF's Final Six competition which qualifies the top three to Germany 2006 and the fourth place team to a play-off against a minor placed Asian team.
After three of six matches, Jamaica and Panama are tied for second on four points, one behind leaders United States and one ahead of the next other team in the group, El Salvador.
"Our big 'World Cup finals' and 10 points will be enough to take Jamaica safely to the next stage," Brown told The Gleaner yesterday, while still being locked down tightly at home following hurricane Ivan.
"On October 10, we need to get there and get those three points.
"... It will be tough as they are a good team as they showed us against the USA. But the good thing is that we play better every match and that's a big plus for the coaching staff and the players themselves," Brown observed.
The game comes on the back of a huge away win last Wednesday night over El Salvador - a historic 3-0 success which marked Jamaica's first win over a Central American team in Central America.
He says the win was due largely to the hospitality of the Central Americans and the way the players were focused for the occasion.
VERY UNUSUAL
"Surprisingly, the people were very friendly and this was very unusual," Brown told The Gleaner.
"Usually, the game starts when we land at the airport, but they were very accommodative. They really pushed us through customs and got us to the hotel on time," Brown noted.
"It was really down to the players to get the job done though, Brown said.
"They were very focused from the time we arrived in El Salvador and we realised that they would play well," he said.
He said the players would not be seen around the hotel unless they were going for a meal or going to training and "...when you see this sign you know that the players are into it".
After that victory in Central America, the Reggae Boyz are now lying in second position in the group with four points and the technical director said he could see signs that El Salvador was not doing too well.
"The stadium was half full and normally when you play in El Salvador it would be end to end with the crowd - they would be hostile. It wasn't so this time."
Jamaica, for that game, changed their usual formation of 4-4-2 to the more attacking 4-3-3 that paid rich dividends.
"We needed goals and one game that we looked back on was the game against Venezuela that we won 2-0. That's the formation that we played," said Brown.
He added: "We feel that we could get out there and be positive and at the same time get most of our best players on the field at the same time that is our strikers."
Although Brown said this formation was successful against El Salvador, there is no guarantee that they will stick with it for the rest of the games.
FORMATIONS
"We have resorted to at least four formations and the good thing is that most of these formations have included eight players regardless of what system we use."
Brown, a former national player during the 70s who has been among the national coaching staff since 1990, said this current team is the best that he has seen when asked by The Gleaner if this was one of the better teams that he has coached.
"I believe this is the best squad we have assembled. Whitmore is much more experienced although six years ago he would have been much sharper. Jamie at 33 will always be tough. He has a special job to do and nobody does it better than him although he has deficiencies.
"Fuller is not a King and King is not a Fuller - Ralph is the youngest of the three and is physically fitter and does much more work for us, especially in defence then supports the attack. We have a great blend of three strikers in their own way that compliment each other," he reasoned.