Newly appointed Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson
File
Newly appointed Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson believes his first order of business is to develop a national philosophy on how Jamaican wants to play football.
Armed with nearly 30 years of coaching experience, Hallgrimsson signed a four-year contract with the Jamaica Football Federation and has the mandate to help Jamaica develop its football and to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will be jointly held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Throughout its history, Jamaica has never had a clearly defined philosophy and the way it plays football is largely left up to whichever coach is in charge.
As such, over the past three years, Jamaica has used more than 100 players but has very little to show for it. Hallgrimsson believes that the time has come for a change.
“If a club or country is constantly changing coaches the philosophy changes with the coaches. I (will) try to use my experience from Iceland and will like to do it here. What we did is implement our ideas. We talk to the players, we talk to the management, adjust our ideas to the Jamaicans and that is the ownership of Jamaica. It’s not the coach that takes the philosophy with him,” he said.
“That is the first thing we have to do. Number one, players of different cultures, they come from different teams, from even different continents so everybody is used to doing it their way, and professionals like to continue to do it their way. So for me, the first task is to build a working environment so that when players come to the Jamaica national team, this is how we do it. So it’s not like this today and it’s not like that tomorrow and it doesn’t change if you lose a game, this is how we do it.”
The philosophy then will depend on the players that are available.
“You build your formation and how you play football is based on the players you have,” Hallgrimsson said.
“You cannot force players to play certain things because I like it. So this is my philosophy and I hope we can do this together.”
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Robertson warns Liverpool cannot make any more mistakes in top-four pursuit
Andrew Robertson warned Liverpool team-mates they cannot afford to make any more mistakes if they are to meet their minimum expectation of Champions League qualification.
The Reds have endured a disappointing season, with Jurgen Klopp's efforts not helped by a string of significant injuries to key players.
Last season, Liverpool won an EFL Cup and FA Cup double, reached the Champions League final, and finished just one point behind Premier League winners Manchester City.
However, this term has seen them fail to defend either cup crown, they were eliminated from the Champions League at the last-16 stage, and are facing an uphill battle to finish in the top four domestically.
Sixth-placed Liverpool are seven points behind Tottenham in fourth, and although the Reds have two games in hand on Spurs, so do Newcastle United, who only trail the north Londoners by a single point.
The underwhelming nature of Liverpool's campaign is not lost on Robertson, who thinks they are on their last life if they want to pip Spurs and Newcastle – they now face consecutive games against City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
"The motivations are the exact same," he told reporters ahead of Saturday's trip to City. "We want Champions League football, and so the motivation is the exact same as though we were going for trophies.
"It is obviously a big week; we are playing against three big teams and it's going to be an intense week, but it's what you look forward to when you come to this club. These are the big games you want to be involved in.
"We don't want to be in this position, and…we don't really have time to waste, we don't have any mistakes left in us if we want to achieve top four."
He added: "[Expectations] have to be on the highest level when you play at this club – you don't get an option not to do that, the people around the club demand that. I think we do that, but we have just lacked a little bit of consistency this season.
"In the last five or six years, consistency is the one word that would be put next to our name, as we always showed up and even when not at our best, we still managed to grind out results. We haven’t done that this season, and we have to fix that."
Despite their issues this season, Robertson remains adamant Liverpool belong in the Champions League.
But he accepts the Reds cannot take qualification for granted.
"Going into April, not being in the Champions League, FA Cup or League Cup, and then not being in a title race is so disappointing – it's a position we don't want to be in.
"We are out of every competition, but we still believe we are a team that can compete in every competition.
"So to fix that, we have to be in these tournaments again next season, and the only way to do that is finishing in the top four.
"So we've got 12 games to fix it, and we are determined to put our all into those next 12 games."
Chelsea beat Lyon in dramatic penalty shoot-out, Wolfsburg fend off PSG to reach semi-finals
Chelsea sealed a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Lyon to reach the semi-finals of the Women's Champions League, having rescued the tie through Maren Mjelde's last-gasp spot-kick in extra-time.
Despite winning last week's first leg 1-0, Chelsea appeared destined for an exit when Sara Dabritz drilled into the bottom-right corner in extra time after Venessa Gilles' flick had levelled the tie.
However, a trip on Lauren James gave Mjelde the chance to keep the game alive at the last, and the Norwegian made no mistake eight minutes into stoppage time, taking the contest to a shoot-out.
James and Wendie Renard both saw their kicks saved before Jess Carter converted, meaning Lyon's Lindsey Horan had to score to keep the holders in the competition.
Chelsea's Ann-Katrin Berger got down to her right to palm Horan's weak kick away, ensuring the Blues teed up an enticing semi-final tie against Barcelona – who beat Emma Hayes' team 4-0 in the 2021 final.
Earlier on Thursday, two-time champions Wolfsburg clinched a 1-1 draw at home to Paris Saint-Germain, recording a 2-1 aggregate success to set up a semi-final tie with Arsenal.
Having taken a first-leg lead through Dominique Janssen's penalty in the French capital last week, Wolfsburg found themselves with a two-goal cushion when Alexandra Popp fired home from outside the area 20 minutes in.
That strike came somewhat against the run of play after Kadidiatou Diani had an effort chalked off for offside, but there was no denying the forward when she nodded in on the half-hour mark.
Wolfsburg improved after the break and missed several chances to make the tie safe, but it was of little consequence as PSG failed to find a crucial second goal.
Dyche focused on Everton survival fight after Premier League alleged FFP breach
Everton manager Sean Dyche is focused on the club's fight to avoid relegation after the Toffees were referred to an independent commission over an alleged breach of the Premier League's financial rules.
Last week, the Premier League alleged Everton had broken the competition's profitability and sustainability rules during the 2021-22 season, which they finished in 16th place.
Everton ended last season four points clear of the relegation zone, but the Merseyside club have found themselves embroiled in another battle to stay in the top flight this term.
With reports suggesting Everton could face a point deduction, a club statement said the Toffees were "prepared to robustly defend" their position.
Asked about the alleged breach on Thursday, Dyche said: "There is no situation at the moment. The club's statement covers everything. I'm happy to go along with that.
"I'm more focused on what's going on on the pitch, obviously. The club have assured me the statement is correct and the rest of it will come down to the powers that be to do what they have to do.
"At the minute, we are really focusing on what is going on now. Of course there are background views on the future but I'm working with the squad now, working to get more points and to make sure we get what we all want, which is to be in the Premier League."
Everton sit two points above the bottom three ahead of Monday's meeting with Tottenham at Goodison Park, having salvaged a 2-2 draw at Chelsea prior to the international break.
Dyche also confirmed striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin is "back out on the grass" and progressing well from injury, but he not yet ready to participate in full sessions.
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