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Hallgrimsson targets Gold Cup final
June 22, 2023
Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson will seek to prevent a loss when they play their opening Concacaf Gold Cup game against hosts and defending champions the United States of America (USA) at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday.
Hallgrimsson believes the Boyz can go to the final, but he argued that they must start the tournament positively by getting at least a crucial point from the first game.
"It is going to be a good and exciting game, but the most important thing in a tournament like this is not to lose the first game. A draw is always a good point from the first game. It means you are alive until the end of the group phase," he told a press conference on Monday.
The hosts will start favourites for the match, but Hallgrimsson insists they have no fear of the USA. Nevertheless, he said it would come down to how they execute during the game.
"It is just in the now. The day when we face the US, are we ready? We don't fear them. We know they have a good squad and playing at home in front of their people.
"What we did two, four or 10 years ago doesn't help or destroy anything for us. The expectations (for us) are the same. I think we have the quality to go to the final stages of this tournament," he said.
Jamaica have been grouped with the USA, St Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago and assistant coach John Wall assured they are fully aware of what to expect from the other teams.
"It's all accounted for. We made sure we watched every team leading up to the Gold Cup. We do not expect anything because we know how brutal these games can be, but we have been taking everything into account all the teams, and it has been a shared effort on the technical team," Wall commented.
