Hall: Boyz can still qualify for World Cup

Newly appointed interim senior national men's head coach, Paul Hall, believes the Reggae Boyz can still qualify for next year's FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar and he will be doing his best to aid that effort.

British-based Hall, a member of the Reggae Boyz team at the 1998 World Cup in France, takes over from Theodore Whitmore, who was fired from the job last week. The Boyz are in sixth spot in the Concacaf eight-team final round on seven points with six games remaining.

The table is led by Canada on 16 points, with the United States next on 15, while Mexico and Panama round out the top four with 14 points each. Costa Rica are just ahead of the Reggae Boyz on nine.

Speaking during a Jamaica Football Federation virtual press conference yesterday, Hall said that there is a lot of pressure on himself as well as the players to win their remaining six matches, four of which are at home, but he is confident that they can come out on top in these games.

"The pressure is there because this is a results-based industry. We know what we have to do and there is no hiding away from the fact that we need to pick up points," said Hall.

"I really do believe that this group of players can respond to that pressure but we need to make it difficult for teams to play, especially in Jamaica," he said.

He added: "I felt during the last game we played that the momentum was starting to shift because we had some fans inside the (National) Stadium. They were really full of energy and we really need everybody to be in the right area and the right space to push this team forward."

Hall, who has a UEFA 'A' coaching licence, came to the Reggae Boyz as assistant coach earlier this year having been the Senior Professional Development Coach at Queen's Park Rangers since 2015.

He pointed out that it is very important that the players receive all the love and support that they require which will give the team a lot of confidence.

"It is vital and we just need all the support that we can get and positive vibes and positive messages that we can get and so everything needs to be thrown at these last six games," said Hall. "We have to take the last six games one game at a time and just try to get three points out of each game. I think that when we qualified in 1997, it was vital that we had that crowd in there (National Stadium)."