Winfried Schaefer, head coach of Jamaica’s national senior football team, has charged his band of Reggae Boyz to play with confidence, a broad smile, freedom, yet with discipline when they face a superior opposition in France at the newly erected Stade Pierre Mauroy here today at 9:00 pm (2:00 pm Jamaica time).
The Boyz, ranked 81st on the FIFA Coca- Cola list, 64 places below the European superpower, will have some support in the beautiful one-year-old dome-like stadium, which is expected to host a sold-out crowd of 45,000 today.
“We must go out with confidence, we cannot stay behind the ball and concede many goals; I hope not,” Schaefer told the Sunday Observer following yesterday’s training session at the game venue.
“We go out and play our football and maybe make a goal, why not? “I told my players to smile. This is a big chance to smile and play football and be disciplined. Not everybody makes what he wants, like the last match, but discipline, and from this discipline maybe one player is very good and gets a chance to play in Europe,” added the German.
Today’s game marks the final warm-up engagement for the 1998 World Cup champions, who are trying to bury the scandalous display by an indisciplined outfit which managed a solitary point in Group A in South Africa four years ago.
They followed up by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2012 Euros, beaten by eventual winners Spain and with winning World Cup Captain Didier Deschamps now at the helm, there are signs that team discipline is of primary importance, as opposed to wayward talent, as evidenced by the non-selection of Manchester City’s mercurial midfielder Samir Nasri.
Deschamps will be trying to find suitable adjustments for his line-up after talisman Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich was forced out of the World Cup squad following an injury to his lower back during sprints on Friday, as well as Olympique Lyonnais’ Clement Grenier, who was ruled out with a groin injury on Thursday.
Montepellier’s Remy Cabella and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin have been called in as replacements. Still, France possess a host of quality players who will provide a real test for the Reggae Boyz. In their last 10 outings, they have suffered just one loss, with the most recent performances showing a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands, 4-0 against Norway, and a 1-1 draw with Paraguay. “This is a good French team, one of the best teams in Europe, if not the world,” noted Schaefer.
“They are organised, but they have the freedom to use their individual skill sets, so it will be difficult not just for us, but for all teams to play against the French. “We need an angel, but I’m surprised about my team because we played three matches in nine days and everybody wants to play tomorrow. Today (yesterday), the training was good, and all I want is for the players to go out and give all that they have for maybe 70 minutes or an hour,” the coach said.
Despite showing progress in all games played so far on this tour, Schaefer was not happy with the manner in which Egypt were able to penetrate the middle of the Jamaican defence on Wednesday night and, as a result, he had toyed with the idea of employing a 3-5-2 formation to reinforce the centre block of the team. However, yesterday he practised with a 4-3-3 system, with Harbour View’s Nicholas Beckett replacing Romario Campbell in the middle of the park. But he told the Observer that he’s ready to change to 3-5-2 if plan ‘A’ doesn’t pan out.
Along with Beckett, Captain Rodolph Austin and Joel Campbell were also employed in midfield behind the ever-impressive Simon Dawkins, along with Michael Seaton and Christopher Humphrey in attack, and in front of Wes Morgan, Adrian Mariappa, Kemar Lawrence, and Lloyd Doyley. Jacomeno Barret will retain his place between the sticks.
The Jamaica squad is completed by Ryan Thompson, Romario Campbell, John-Ross Edwards, Upstan Edwards, Hughan Gray, Dino Williams, Nicholas Finlayson, and Ramil Sheriff. The French team will be selected from Michael Landreau, Hugo Lloris, Stephane Ruffier, Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Patrice Evra, Laurent Koscielny, Eliaquin Mangala, Bacary Sagna, Mamadou Sakho, Raphael Varane, Yohan Cabaye, Blaise Matuidi, Rio Mavuba, Paul Pogba, Moussa Sissoko, Mathieu Valbuena, Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Loic Remy, Remy Cabella and Morgan Schneiderlin.