El Salvador's Marvin Gonzalez (right) has words with Jamaica's Ricardo Fuller in the first half of the team's CONCACAF Gold Cup match in Miami on Friday. - File Photo

MIAMI, Florida

DISAPPOINTMENT, in a word, said it all for the body language and attitude of the Jamaica team, following confirmation that they were eliminated from the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament yesterday.

The team had been waiting anxiously since Friday night to confirm whether it would have advanced in the competition as one of the two third-place spots in the quarter-finals.

But all three countries that would have had to have got unfavourable results for Jamaica to have qualified, closed out their end of the bargain.

Haiti drew 2-2 with the United States Saturday to finish third in Group B on four points and Honduras later thumped Grenada 4-0 to finish second on six points, one behind the United States.

down the drain

Jamaica's last opportunity went down the drain yesterday when Panama, which started the game on one point, slammed Nicaragua 4-0 in Group C to finish third on four points.

"I'm totally disappointed that we have to be returning home at this stage," said assistant coach, Bradley Stewart. "To be knocked out at the first stage of any competition is very heart-rending and I'm sure the entire coaching and management staff, and just watching the mood of the players, you have to feel a little bit disappointed for them even though we are where we are because of how things went in those previous games."

Stewart added that it was particularly (disappointing) because of the quality of the players we have on tour."

"We certainly had an expectation that (in) the previous games we would have had positive results out of them and it wouldn't have got to this stage where we are dependent on the results of other teams, because certainly we believe that the Jamaica team is right up there with the best in the region."

The team's captain, Ricardo Gardner, said: "I feel it's a very disappointing tournament for us. For us waiting for other teams to get results, it (was) all in our hands really.

The Jamaicans placed third in Group A on three points.

lot of chances

"We got a lot of chances, but we didn't put them away, but you know what football is like, it's a cruel game and you just have to learn from it and learn from our mistakes and hopefully that won't happen again in the future."

Commenting on whether the first-round elimination was a missed opportunity in light of the fact that Jamaica had a strong squad, Gardner said: "Definitely it is. As you see out there, we went out there and we created chances with the players who we have here and it just boils down to what we didn't do we just didn't put away our chances and I think that's the main thing why we're in the position that we were in today."

Canada won Group A with seven points and Costa Rica placed second on four.

Only two of the three third-place teams were guaranteed a spot in the eight team quarters, which also includes the winner and runners up from the other groups.

The Jamaica team was actually engaged in a training session and was being updated on the match and when new broke that their last hopes had disappeared with Panama's victory, Gardner said the vibe crashed.

"The spirit all went down. We were waiting on that result and hearing the result coming from outside it was really disappointing, it wasn't the result that we really wanted, but we had it in our hands and we had to depend on others in the end, so it's not really good from that standpoint for me."

outside factors

Asked about the impact of outside factors, given that two players (Jermaine Johnson and Damion Stewart) were fined as the team made its way to the tournament and another player (Stewart) was sent home on Saturday, Gardner said it had no influence on their performance.

"I wouldn't say that affected the team spirit really because we got the opportunities in the games and the spirit was right on the pitch. What the player and the coach had in the end is something between them really and it'd be good if you hear it from them really. I think other than that the team spirit was great within the camp, we just didn't put away our chances on the field. I don't think outside influences had anything to do with it."

short on preparation

The Reggae Boyz skipper also said the team was short on preparation, but the coach, Theodore Whitmore, did as best he could.

They had a one-week camp in The Cayman Islands with some of the players, and 11 players travelled from Jamaica en route to the tournament. As they assembled in the United States, the squad, minus one player (defender Ian Goodison), got together on the eve of the tournament, with some players flying in from Europe a day after representing their clubs.

"Preparing ourselves for the Gold Cup, a lot of players were off with their team, some of the players play in Norway as well, some play in America. I don't think we had enough time to prepare as well as we did, but the coach did as great a job he could in the little bit of time that he had us together."

He said Goodison's absence did affect the team, but reiterated that they had their chances.

"I think it affected the team a lot, but I think we have players here as well who could go out there and do the job. If you look at the games we only lost by one goal to nil and we have more opportunities to score."

The biggest letdown, he believes, is that they weren't clinical.

"I would say it's really to finish off teams when we get the opportunity to. We weren't clinical enough and that's not about one player, but for the whole team."