LILLE, France, CMC- Head coach Winfried Schaefer says Jamaica’s humiliating 8-nil loss to World Cup bound France exposes the Reggae Boyz’s unpreparedness to compete with regular participants on football’s biggest stage.
Jamaica crashed to their second biggest defeat in football history when they lost to France at the Pierre Mauroy stadium here on Sunday.
Their worst defeat in football was a 9-0 trouncing at the hands of Costa Rica in San Jose in 1999.
“Tonight we were witnesses of a game that made painfully obvious how much work is still needed to play on the same level as the regular participants of the World Cup,” Schaefer wrote in a special message to the Jamaican people.
“That’s hurtful and will not be forgotten soon, but it isn’t a shame. We must accept the fact and push ourselves to work even harder and more systematically”.
The 8 nil scoreline against France put a scar on a four-match tour that saw a young Jamaica team growing with each game.
Before the beating from the Frenchmen, the Boyz gave creditable performances, losing 2-1 to Serbia, holding their own in a one-nil defeat against Brazil-bound Switzerland, and leading several times African champions Egypt 2-1 before giving up the advantage in a 2-all draw.
“We performed very well against Egypt, defended a draw, scored twice and showed again that we improved from game to game,” Schaefer wrote.
“So at first sight our loss against France broke our continuing development. But four games in 12 days were exhausting for the players, with injuries that affected the performance of the team. Our last and hardest game showed us our limits for the moment”.
The Jamaica head coach says while his players are in advance stage of preparations for the Caribbean cup later this year, they are a long way off from being ready for World Cup 2018
“Now we have to shake that off (loss to France) and invest all our energy, time and spirit into the development of football in Jamaica,” Schaefer noted.
“We’re on a good way for the Caribbean Cup, but still at the beginning for our preparation for the World Cup in 2018”.