FIFA President Blatter Leads Praise of Reggae Boyz
Jamaica’s historic Gold run recognised by football’s top man
Controversial FIFA President Sepp Blatter was one of the first of the leading names in world football to congratulate Jamaica’s incredible journey to the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Although Winfried Shäfer’s Reggae Boyz ran out of steam to suffer a 3-1 reversal at the hands of world no40 side Mexico in Sunday’s final showpiece at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Jamaica had already rewritten the history books by becoming the first Caribbean team to reach the final.
And their exploits throughout the Gold Cup tournament, co-hosted in Canada and the United States, earned the plaudits with Blatter’s letter the Jamaica Football Federation’s President Captain Horace Burrell the pinnacle.
Blatter conveyed: “I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the Jamaican national team on their second place finish in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
“Please pass on my compliments to all those involved in this achievement: the players, the coach (Winfried Schafer), but also the technical and medical team, and not least the supporters. Such success is based on hard work, professionalism, discipline and passion.”
Jamaica head coach Schäfer said: “I hope the Jamaican people are proud with the team as it was fantastic.
“A lot of people don’t know how the players work hard for his country, and for the Jamaican people. The players love their country, my staff loves this country.”
“In the first 15 or 20 minutes we had chances to score, but we needed a little bit of luck to make a goal.
“After half-time Mexico came out and got one chance and one goal, and we have to be proud of this team as many people did not give this team a chance in the tournament.”
Vancouver Whitecaps striker Darren Mattocks, surprisingly relegated to the bench and replaced by Simon Dawkins in the starting-line for Sunday’s final, made an impact after appearing on the hour-mark to inject much-needed life into the lethargic Boyz and notched a consolation strike with 10 minutes remaining.
He explained: “It’s a team game and I definitely respect the coach’s decision not to put me into the starting line-up, at the same time I know what I am capable of doing”.
“I scored against the USA in the semi-final so I was really expecting to start and do the same by scoring early. Once you believe in your talent then you can show what you can do with every chance”.
“The Gold Cup achievement was a total team effort. We’ve been a fantastic team and there’s a lot to look forward to, not only as a team but as a country.”