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.
West Indies squad named for home two-match Test series against Bangladesh
Cricket West Indies on Friday unveiled the squad to represent the West Indies in their upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh scheduled for November 22 to December 4 in Antigua and Jamaica.
Led by Kraigg Brathwaite, the squad features an exciting mix of seasoned, in-form players and fresh, young talent.
Brathwaite is joined in the group of specialist batsmen by Mikyle Louis, Keacy Carty, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach and Alick Athanaze.
Justin Greaves, who scored over 400 runs in the ongoing CG United Super50 Cup, has also been included in the squad and could contribute with both bat and ball in an all-rounder role. Kevin Sinclair is the slow bowling all-rounder option selected. Jason Holder will miss the series as he continues rehabilitation for a shoulder injury.
Vice-captain Joshua Da Silva will continue in the role as wicket-keeper while the specialist bowlers selected include Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Jomel Warrican.
Prior to the Tests, Brathwaite will also lead a 13-man CWI Select Warm-Up match squad primarily consisting of players not selected for their regional CG United Super50 squads, allowing emerging talent to gain exposure ahead of the series.
That squad will take on Bangladesh in a two-day warm-up fixture at Coolidge in Antigua on November 17 and 18.
Full Test Squad:
CWI Select XI Warm-Up Match Squad:
KC, JC through to Manning Cup semis as champs Mona booted
A new ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup champion will be crowned after Kingston College (KC) registered a decisive 2-0 victory over reigning titleholders Mona High in their Group A quarterfinal showdown at Stadium East on Friday.
Kvist Paul (8th) and Demario Dailey (70th) did the damage for Kingston College in a win that not only ended Mona's campaign but also propelled the North Street-based team into the semifinals alongside Jamaica College (JC), who trounced Tivoli High 4-0 in a simultaneous fixture at the Ashenheim Stadium.
By virtue of the results, Jamaica College topped the group on seven points, one point ahead of Kingston College (six points), while Tivoli High (three points) and Mona High (one point) will now turn their focus to the Walker Cup knockout competition for redemption.
Kingston College’s Head coach, Vassell Reynolds, lauded his team's composure and execution.
"It was a fantastic performance. We knew Mona would come out strong, but the boys stuck to the game plan and delivered when it mattered. Now, we look ahead to the semifinals, but as always, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. The aim is to keep the boys grounded and focused, and we will see what happens when that time comes,” Reynolds said.
With a lot at stake for Mona in particular heading into the contest, it was expected to be a close affair, but the manner in which Kingston College started ensured otherwise.
In fact, Mona had very little say in the contest as Kingston College’s show of intent resulted in an early strike inside 10 minutes. Damaine Smith delivered a perfectly placed corner kick, which Paul rose to meet and headed past Mona's goalkeeper, Riquelme Edwards.
Mona High, desperate to respond, almost found themselves further behind in the 15th minute when Dailey fired wide from a promising position.
As Mona struggled to contain Kingston College’s tactical discipline and attacking enterprise, Deshawn Byfield almost added his name to the scoresheet but had his effort dramatically cleared off the line by Dante Peralto.
Despite KC’s dominance, Mona’s goalkeeper Edwards produced a string of superb saves to keep his team in contention.
Just before halftime, he acrobatically parried a powerful shot from Kajay Fletcher, diving full stretch to his right, and Byfield failed to capitalize on the rebound.
Seconds later, Edwards was called upon again to deny a stinging shot from Smith.
Matrim Martin then unleashed a venomous right-footer, but Edwards once more stood tall, ensuring the scoreline remained 1-0 at the break.
The purples continued to assert their authority on the resumption as Dailey threatened in the 68th with a firm shot from close range that went straight at Edwards.
However, the Kingston College striker, sporting the number nine jersey, made amends two minutes later. Sent on his way by a brisk through pass, Dailey powered a low drive past a flat-footed Edwards to double Kingston College’s lead and effectively end Mona’s hopes of a comeback.
Clarke hails solid Scotland as Croatia win boosts Nations League survival hopes
Steve Clarke credited Scotland's defensive resilience after they boosted their hopes of remaining in the top tier of the Nations League by beating Croatia 1-0 at Hampden Park.
John McGinn came off the bench to score the all-important goal as Scotland took advantage of Petar Sucic's sending-off to claim their first win of the 2024-25 Nations League campaign.
The result – coupled with Poland's crushing 5-1 defeat in Portugal – means Scotland will stave off automatic relegation to League B if they win in Warsaw on Monday.
While Clarke felt Scotland could have done more with the ball, he was impressed both with their off-the-ball work and with the impact of super sub McGinn.
"My first thoughts when I came off the pitch were that we could play better," Clarke said.
"We could be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch. The sending off changed the game, but we were due a little break.
"This is a group of players that want to be successful, want to do well for their country.
"That's another clean sheet, two in a row. If you don't concede goals, you always have a chance to win the game.
"It was nice to get John on the pitch and I thought his finish was really good because it wasn't easy. It was nice to be able to look at the bench behind and know we had people who could come on and affect the game. It's nice when we get everybody fit and available."
The victory was Scotland's first in a competitive match since September 2023, when they beat Cyprus 3-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying.
They had gone 10 games without a competitive victory since then, drawing four and losing six, including a return of just one point from three outings at Euro 2024.
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