On a damp Monday evening in California, beneath the lights of a event that ought to mark progress, the Reggae Boyz delivered a efficiency so uninspired, disjointed, and tactically incoherent that even the Fox Sports activities commentators publicly questioned Steve McClaren’s management.
Their verdict was swift and damning: It’s the coach’s job to arrange this group and instil construction.
They’re proper. However the place they could have been shocked by the lethargy, I used to be not. I hoped—desperately—for one thing totally different, however nothing in McClaren’s transient tenure has steered that he is aware of easy methods to construction this group, not to mention encourage it.
This 0-1 loss to Guatemala, within the opening Group C match of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, was not an outlier. It was a continuation.
A group with out construction, a coach with out a plan
From the primary whistle, the Reggae Boyz regarded misplaced. Not merely sluggish or sluggish to heat into the sport, however essentially bereft of path. The dearth of an identifiable recreation mannequin was painfully apparent. There was no press, no possession sample, no proof of coaching floor routines. It was, as soon as once more, a scattershot mixture of lengthy balls, misplaced passes, and particular person improvisation.
It was kicking and hoping. Not plotting. Not enjoying.
And this isn’t new. McClaren’s Jamaica has but to supply a efficiency that displays a constant tactical framework. Sport after recreation, the group lacks cohesion. Gamers look as in the event that they’re assembly for the primary time. There’s no indication that they perceive their roles in or out of possession. It’s a recurring theme, and in worldwide soccer—the place preparation time is brief—that burden rests solely on the top coach.
Midfield neglect: A self-inflicted wound
The issues start with choice. The 26-man squad options solely 5 gamers listed as midfielders, and two of them have seen little to no minutes in significant fixtures. That’s not simply an oversight—it’s a strategic failure. Then as destiny would have it, one was despatched house on account of harm.
The midfield is the mind and heartbeat of any facet. But McClaren went into the area’s flagship event with a roster that primarily hollowed out the core of the group. And predictably, he was compelled to subject a three-man midfield with only one specialist midfielder—a trio ill-equipped to keep up possession or dictate rhythm.
Can we truthfully anticipate such a unit to regulate a match in opposition to technically adept Central American opposition? It was a setup destined to fail, and it did.
No changes, no solutions
As the primary half slipped away and Jamaica fell behind, the query grew to become: what would McClaren do to alter the tide?
His reply? A defensive halftime substitution in a recreation the place a objective was urgently required.
Probably the most baffling resolution was the belated introduction of Kasey Palmer, probably the most attacking midfielder of the 5 listed and the person who was just lately tasked with captaining the group on the Unity Cup. Palmer, one of many few gamers able to operating at defenses, sat on the bench till halfway the second half whereas the group toiled. Why not pair him with Demarai Grey or shift Jonathan Russell deeper to present Palmer license to create? There have been choices—simply no creativeness.
In the meantime, Renaldo Cephas, the left winger who did so effectively creating objectives on the Unity Cup, was fully pocketed by Aaron Herrera utilizing honest or foul means, was left on the identical flank. Why not change wings with Leon Bailey, who was equally muted, and check Guatemala’s different facet? The place was the tactical flexibility? The braveness to attempt one thing totally different?
McClaren’s inaction screamed louder than any sideline protest. It felt like he was watching a movie he couldn’t edit.
Different groups have id, Jamaica has excuses
Maybe most damning is that this: each different group I’ve watched on this 16-nation event to this point has exhibited a transparent id—some high-pressing, some possession-based, some counter-attacking—however all seemingly working from a shared blueprint. Jamaica? Nonetheless scuffling with the fundamentals.
This identical group barely scraped previous the 207th-ranked British Virgin Islands a number of weeks in the past. That efficiency was written off as rust and a nasty pitch. Monday evening proves it wasn’t. It was a symptom of a deeper dysfunction.
Time is brief, expectations are excessive
Steve McClaren must get up to the realities of CONCACAF. This isn’t the identical confederation of outdated. Groups like Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and El Salvador are enjoying organized, tactical and technical soccer. They’re not underdogs—they’re opponents.
If McClaren fails to develop a tactical id and continues to pick unbalanced squads, Jamaica’s Gold Cup marketing campaign shall be short-lived—and the chance to construct momentum forward of September’s kickoff of the ultimate spherical of FIFA World Cup Qualifying shall be squandered.
The Reggae Boyz pool has the uncooked expertise. What it doesn’t have is a frontrunner offering the construction and confidence to make use of it.
This event should be a turning level—or it could be remembered because the second the McClaren undertaking lastly misplaced its manner.
