REBUILD IN MOTION

INTERIM Reggae Boyz Head Coach Rudolph Speid says the team has entered a dedicated rebuilding phase, after Jamaica’s 2-0 win over El Salvador in their Group B Concacaf Nations League A football match at the Estadio Cuscatlán on Friday night. Striker Javon East scored goals in both halves to secure the victory and pick up three points for the visitors. However, Speid’s post-match comments focused heavily on the technical team’s deliberate strategy to trust a young group of players during a high-stakes away fixture. After Jamaica’s failed World Cup-qualifying campaign earlier this year, Speid and his coaching staff decided to build for future campaigns by giving immediate international exposure to young talent. In San Salvador, Jamaica fielded its youngest-ever senior international player, Jahmarie Nolan, at 16 years old, while also handing a start to a 17-year-old player, Jamone Lyle. By the end of the match, nine of the players who took the pitch for Jamaica were under the age of 23. “It was a result that we needed,” Speid said after the match. “It was a good performance for a number of reasons. Jamaica played its youngest-ever player to play on the senior national team, at 16 years and some days old today. We also played a 17-year-old today. We’re in a rebuilding phase, and we’ve never beaten El Salvador since 2015, so there are a lot of good things happening to us and we’re grateful.” Speid says giving younger players early exposure in tough environments like the Estadio Cuscatlán is now the primary objective of the coaching staff. “Well, I know that by the end of the game we actually had nine players that we fielded who were under 23 years old,” Speid said. “It was good for us in our rebuilding efforts. After our failed World Cup-qualifying campaign this is a rebuilding effort, and we’re just happy that we’re giving a lot of these players opportunities.” The match changed early in the first half when El Salvador defender Rudy Clavel was shown a red card in the 20th minute for a bad foul on East. The red card forced El Salvador to play almost 70 minutes with 10 men. Speid says his squad had to manage their emotions directly after the incident, as some of the younger players showed too much aggression in their challenges immediately following the dismissal. “It’s a part of the game, and when it happened we really had to make adjustments so I thought the team was a little bit too enthusiastic with some of the tackles,” Speid said. “So that was the result of it tonight.” Jamaica found the opening goal in the 39th minute when defender Miguel Freckleton sent a cross into the box for East who controlled the ball and finished in the bottom corner. In the second half, Jamaica doubled their advantage in the 64th minute. Substitute Nolan set up East inside the penalty area, and the striker lifted a left-footed shot into the top corner of the net for his second goal of the night. The victory ended an 11-year winless run against La Selecta. The result moves Jamaica into second place in Group B with six points from three matches, trailing leaders Suriname by one point. Friday’s victory puts Jamaica in a strong position to advance to the next round of the tournament without needing help from other results in the group. “It means a lot to us,” Speid said. “We’ve put ourselves in a position where qualifying from this round is in our hands. Basically, we don’t really have to depend on anyone. Once we get a good result in Honduras, that would be good for us.” Jamaica will now travel to face Honduras on Monday night in their final match of this window, where a win or a draw will secure their spot in the quarter-finals.