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Hallgrimsson searches for right fit
June 19, 2023
Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson insists that it is important that he continues to look at all the players available to him, while they prepare for the Concacaf Gold Cup, scheduled to take place in the United States of America (USA) and Canada.
The Reggae Boyz will open their Gold Cup campaign on Saturday when they face hosts USA, but today they battle Jordan at the Wiener Neustadt Ergo Arena in Austria at 7 a.m. when Hallgrimsson will analyse other players than those who started in another friendly international match against Qatar at the same venue on Thursday.
"There are six changes to the starting line-up," Hallgrimsson declared. "We decided prior to the camp that no player will play two times for 90 minutes. Even though they were in full season and could have managed, we wanted to share the minutes. We do not want to overload players prior to the US (Gold Cup)."
The Icelandic coach, who is expected to announce his 23-man squad for the Gold Cup after today's game, is contending the camp is being used to get the players ready for the Gold Cup, and the results against Qatar and Jordan are not as significant.
"So we are in the process of looking at future players, but we have predicted how much playing time the players will have here in Austria. It's more about fitness, it's more about being ready for the Gold Cup, more than playing players to win and risking injury or fatigue," he stated.
"We need some players to get minutes, and we must also be careful about other players, who if we want to win, we would have played them 90 minutes, but we would be risking them to be injured. So we have to calculate everything and do what we think is enough to win the match."
The Reggae Boyz lost 2-1 to Qatar, and Hallgrimsson will take a different approach to this game.
"We are, first of all, trying to get players in how we want to play. We do not have a preferred playing style, but tomorrow (today) will be a totally different approach from against Qatar, not because of the opponents, but because of how we would like to prepare and be ready for everything that teams in the Gold Cup will throw at us, so we can be ready to change tactics during a game.
"So that is how we want to use the friendlies, to learn and improve the team and look at players to see if these are the players we would like to carry, not only for the Gold Cup but the World Cup in 2026," Hallgrimsson said.
