A win is the only result on the mind of Reggae Boyz Head Coach Steve McClaren heading into the decisive second leg of his side's CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifier against St. Vincent & the Grenadines set for Tuesday at Sabina Park in Kingston.
Both sided played out a dramatic 1-1 draw in the first leg at Arnos Vale last Friday with the tourists needing a last-minute penalty from Leon Bailey to salvage a draw despite dominating proceedings throughout the majority of the 90 minutes.
“We have to win. That’s the mentality,” said McClaren in a press conference on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s game.
“We had lots of possession. We had 16 shots on goal and we had seven on target. It was very frustrating. When you look at the game, overall, and the chances we created, we should’ve scored more than one goal. As I said to the players, those stats normally win you a game and we have to replicate that on Tuesday,” he added.
One trend that McClaren said has to change in the second leg, however, is the lack of intensity shown by his side.
McClaren noted that their intensity and pace of play shifted only after conceding in the 65th minute.
He says that level of intensity has to be shown from start to finish against a tough St. Vincent & the Grenadines outfit.
“The only thing we’ve talked about is that the urgency and the tempo needs to be higher. We need to attack and attack quickly. In the first game, when we went a goal down, the tempo increased. We need to keep that tempo high against this opponent,” he said.
“I’ve got to say, they didn’t surprise me. I think they surprised the team by the way they played and the speed in which they went in transition. They’re a good team. They beat El Salvador and they should’ve beat them in the second leg so we knew that for big opponents, they’re up for the game but, it’s up to us to do the job.”