Jamaica’s football has been compared to the ineffective English style of play by Frenchman Marc Cheze, who guided Haiti to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-17 Championship honours with a 2-0 win over the young Reggae Boyz in the final on Sunday.
Cheze, who was appointed in January this year, and led Haiti unbeaten throughout the tournament, said Jamaica is a good team but he doesn’t like their “kick and rush” style.
“Jamaican team plays English football. They kick and rush. It’s not my football. I like when the play starts with the goalkeeper, defender or midfield and build the game. It’s not kick and rush,” said the Frenchman, who chose his words carefully.
“I think the Jamaica team is a good team and I think they had one day and we had two days’ rest. Maybe that’s the difference between the two teams,” Cheze told the Jamaica Observer, as his team celebrated wildly on the field.
“We were the best team for this tournament. We scored 12 goals and lost only one goal and that’s good for us. It is very important to win today because we want to be first in the pool and a chance to be in the World Cup,” he added.
But Jamaica’s coach Andrew Edwards rebuffed Cheze’s criticism, and defended his tactics and the style of play implemented by the young Reggae Boyz.
“The coach is entitled to his opinion and I can understand why he would have that opinion. It has a lot to do with the technical part of the game and what we want to do and the understanding from the boys,” Edwards explained.
“But I am very, very confident that if we had enough time with these boys, I can get them to understand exactly what we want them to do and they would look much different. I won’t say it’s an English style football,” Edwards reiterated.
Two penalties by Haitian captain Jacques Mettelus in the 20th and 75th minutes were enough to crown the hosts Caribbean Under-17 champions in front of a packed and boisterous Sylvio Cator Stadium.
But Edwards, though disappointed, was pleased his team achieved one of its objectives in qualifying for the FIFA CONCACAF round set for Honduras in February.
Source-Jamaica Observer
