Newly appointed Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson
File
Newly appointed Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson believes his first order of business is to develop a national philosophy on how Jamaican wants to play football.
Armed with nearly 30 years of coaching experience, Hallgrimsson signed a four-year contract with the Jamaica Football Federation and has the mandate to help Jamaica develop its football and to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will be jointly held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Throughout its history, Jamaica has never had a clearly defined philosophy and the way it plays football is largely left up to whichever coach is in charge.
As such, over the past three years, Jamaica has used more than 100 players but has very little to show for it. Hallgrimsson believes that the time has come for a change.
“If a club or country is constantly changing coaches the philosophy changes with the coaches. I (will) try to use my experience from Iceland and will like to do it here. What we did is implement our ideas. We talk to the players, we talk to the management, adjust our ideas to the Jamaicans and that is the ownership of Jamaica. It’s not the coach that takes the philosophy with him,” he said.
“That is the first thing we have to do. Number one, players of different cultures, they come from different teams, from even different continents so everybody is used to doing it their way, and professionals like to continue to do it their way. So for me, the first task is to build a working environment so that when players come to the Jamaica national team, this is how we do it. So it’s not like this today and it’s not like that tomorrow and it doesn’t change if you lose a game, this is how we do it.”
The philosophy then will depend on the players that are available.
“You build your formation and how you play football is based on the players you have,” Hallgrimsson said.
“You cannot force players to play certain things because I like it. So this is my philosophy and I hope we can do this together.”
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Philadelphia Union v Sporting Kansas City: Preview and prediction
Jim Curtin has promised supporters they will see the Philadelphia Union of old in Saturday's showdown with Sporting Kansas City at Subaru Park.
The Union finished top of the Eastern Conference last season en route to losing the MLS Cup final to Los Angeles FC, but they have made a sluggish start to the 2023 campaign.
Philly have lost three of their opening five matches, including back-to-back defeats against a struggling CF Montreal side and Orlando City in their past two outings.
But with winless Sporting up next this weekend, Curtin is hoping to see a response from his players.
"I think the group will have a good response against Kansas City," Curtin said ahead of Union's first home match against Sporting since the MLS is Back quarter-finals in 2020.
"Win, lose or draw we want to put on a good display to our fans and show that we are still a very good team that had a bad outing last game.
"We have players returning and have had a couple of days with them, so we should be pretty much full strength going into the Kansas match."
Sporting have themselves made a slower-than-expected start to the season, having taken just two points from their first five games.
Like Philadelphia, they enter the game on the back of successive defeats, but experienced head coach Peter Vermes knows how quickly things can change.
"It's easy to think negative things, saying what players can't do, but it's amazing how fast a team can turn that, then you ask 'well how did they do that?'," he said.
"A lot of it is to do with plugging away, keep fighting. I've said it before: we've got a good group here and we'll get there."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Philadelphia Union – Andre Blake
Philadelphia's defeats to Montreal and Orlando came in the absence of Blake, whom Curtin this week described as "the best goalkeeper that our league has".
Joe Bendik conceded five goals across those two matches, but Curtin is hopeful Blake will be back between the sticks on Saturday.
Sporting Kansas City – Erik Thommy
Two goals scored in five games is a hugely underwhelming return for Sporting, even more so when you consider they have had 76 shots this term – only Philadelphia have had as many.
Thommy has been heavily involved in an attacking sense, but he has yet to score this campaign and that quite simply has to change if Sporting are to turn things around.
MATCH PREDICTION – PHILADELPHIA WIN
Philadelphia have clearly lacked the consistency of last season so far in 2023, having lost two MLS games in a row for the first time since September 2021.
The defeat to Orlando last weekend brought an end to the Union's 13-match winning streak on home soil, which was the second-longest run of any side in league history.
But Sporting have really struggled so far, with this only the second time they have gone winless in their first five games, and this seems a good chance for Philly to kick-start their season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Philadelphia Union - 62.1 per cent
Sporting KC - 14.8 per cent
Draw - 23.1 per cent
Allegri unsure when Pogba will make latest return
Massimiliano Allegri is unsure when Paul Pogba will return to action following his most recent injury setback.
The France international has had a torrid time of things since returning to Juve from Manchester United last July, featuring for just 34 minutes across two substitute appearances.
Pogba appeared to have put his injury issues behind him when playing in back-to-back games against Torino and Roma on February 28 and March 5, both times as a substitute.
But he was dropped for Juve's next match, a Europa League tie with Freiburg, due to turning up late for a team meeting.
The 29-year-old has not featured since, having sustained a fresh muscular problem while taking free-kicks in training.
Providing an update on Pogba's fitness ahead of Juve's return to Serie A action against Hellas Verona on Saturday, Allegri appeared to once again rule out the midfielder.
"At the moment, I don't know when he will be available again," Allegri said at Friday's pre-match press conference. "He's working, but at the moment it's difficult to say.
"The adductor is fine, but we're waiting to see how his knee will react after taking part in training."
Allegri's side were hit with a 15-point deduction in January, but they have won six of their past seven Serie A games to move back within seven points of the top four.
Juve have five league games in April, as well as a meeting with Sporting CP in the Europa League quarter-finals and the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter.
"Our aim is to win as many games as possible in order to have a wonderful May," Allegri said of his side's congested April programme.
"This is the schedule and we have to manage it the best way possible. We're heading towards a beautiful but tiring end to the season and must continue playing with enthusiasm."
Tottenham managing director Paratici steps back from role
Tottenham managing director Fabio Paratici has stepped back from his role while the club awaits the outcome of his appeal against a worldwide ban from football.
FIFA announced on Wednesday that the 30-month suspension handed to Paratici by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in January would extend beyond Italian football.
Spurs were caught cold by the timing of the announcement and said in a statement they were "urgently seeking further clarification from FIFA" regarding Paratici's situation.
The 50-year-old's appeal will be held on April 19, but it was confirmed by Tottenham on Friday that he will step back from his duties until then.
"In view of FIFA's decision, Fabio has agreed with the club that he will take an immediate leave of absence pending the outcome of his appeal," a Spurs statement read.
Paratici was one of 11 individuals banned by the FIGC in January after Juventus were found guilty of alleged breaches in relation to historical transfer dealings.
Juve were docked 15 points in Serie A as part of the punishment, with Paratici and the club denying any wrongdoing and lodging an appeal to the Italian Olympic Committee.
Then-chairman Andrea Agnelli and former director Pavel Nedved were hit with 24 and eight month bans respectively, which they are also appealing in April.
Paratici's leave of absence comes at a time when the club are on the lookout for a new head coach following the sacking of Antonio Conte last week.
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