Fatigue Blamed for Jamaica’s Fragile Final, Reggae Boyz Skipper Denied Work Permit

Mexico coach fired and Boyz skipper denied work permit

Miguel Coley, the Jamaica Assistant Coach to Winfried Schäfer, has pointed the blame at fatigue for the Reggae Boyz succumbing so easily to Mexico in Sunday’s Gold Cup final.

Jamaica, who were praised by controversial FIFA President Sepp Blatter and other high profile names in the football arena for becoming the first Caribbean side to reach the final of the competition, simply ran out of steam when they tackled Mexico.

But 17 of the 23 squad in North America for the Gold Cup had been involved in the preceding prestigious Copa America tournament in Chile, when they defended resolutely to fall 1-0 to world heavyweights Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Their experience paved the way for their success story in the Gold Cup, only to fail at the last hurdle with a feeble final showing in Philadelphia due to the exhaustion of competing at the highest level for two months.

Vancouver Whitecaps hot-shot Darren Mattocks, who had scored against the United States in Jamaica’s 2-1 triumph, was omitted from the starting line-up against Mexico with Derby County’s Simon Dawkins given the nod instead – which raised many eyebrows as Mattocks had been faultless throughout the Gold Cup.

And his appearance as a substitute on the hour-mark, when he made an instant impact to lift the Boyz, saw his hard work rewarded with a well-taken late strike.

Coley claimed: “We tried to rotate as much as possible with (Simon) Dawkins and (Darren) Mattocks to keep them fresh, but it was always going to be difficult.

“In the final we had players getting injured and we had players out, so we couldn’t rotate as much as we wanted to.

“We had a lot of strikers on the bench, but in terms of the midfield we tried to rotate that as much as possible and we didn’t have many players there in defence with (Jermaine) Taylor getting injured and Alvas Powell leaving.

“We started very well against Mexico, but as the game went by we just didn’t have that energy and maybe it was the fitness factor.

“Each time we tried to get back into the game we conceded, and that took some fire out of us. For teams that are used to winning, like Mexico, it’s easy for them to find that extra gear and that winning ability.”

But although it wasn’t the final that the Boyz wanted to portray to the world, Mexican coach Miguel Herrera would apparently have been sacked had ‘El Tri’ lost to Jamaica and not captured the nation’s first major title since 2011.

Yet Herrera was relieved of his duties just 48 hours later when the Mexico Football Federation axed him following an alleged incident with a Mexican TV journalist that took place at Philadelphia International Airport.

TV Azteca commentator Christian Martinoli – one of the Herrera’s biggest critics – accused the now former coach of assaulting him in the TSA line at the airport on Monday morning, despite airport officials denying that any such incident was captured on security cameras.

Herrera, who kicked off as interim head coach in November 2013 and was handed the role on a full-time basis a month later, won 18 matches, drew 11 and lost seven during his tenure.

And Jamaica skipper Rodolph Austin has been denied the chance to continue plying his trade in England after the midfielder was denied a work permit to sign for Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday.

The 30-year-old was released by Leeds United before he embarked on back-to-back international tournament for the Boyz and attracted many admirers for his never-say-die displays.

But new England Football Association rules state that a non-European Union player must represent a country in FIFA’s top 50 rankings over the previous two years, and the Boyz were outside that.

Austin’s agent Darryl Powell explained: “It’s been very traumatic for Rodolph, this has changed his whole life.

“We’re speaking to clubs but England is the place he wants to be and has been living in for the last three years.”

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