Reggae Boyz midfielder Jobi McAnuff said his team missed a grand opportunity to capitalise on a good performance against Costa Rica, one of the top teams in the region and go top of their Group in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Reggae Boyz outplayed Costa Rica in the first half but had to settle for a 1-1 draw as they prepare to depart for the return leg on Tuesday.
Despite the commanding performance, Jamaica paid for their profligacy in front of goal.
Costa Rica found an equaliser in the 67th minute to salvage a draw from a match they should have lost.
A frustrated Jobi McAnuff, himself guilty of missing a couple of opportunities to score before and after Jevaughn Watson had put Jamaica up 1-0 in the 16th minute, said his team dropped the ball by not capitalising on a dominant first half.
"Yes, 100 per cent, " McAnuff said about the Boyz missed opportunity to take advantage of Costa Rica at the office.
"We played well first half. We didnt give them any space and we were good with the ball. We kept the ball and used our pace down the sides. We should have really got a second goal in the half to kill off the game."
In the eighth minute McAnuff should have put Jamaica ahead during a period of play when the visitors were hemmed in to their own half by constant pressure from the home team, who exhibited a lot of creativity in the final third, but wasted a number of chances. He skied a volley from eight yards that would have given Jamaica a deserved lead. He said he made the mistake of going for power over trying to place the ball into the net.
Jamaica relinquished their advantage in the second half. The organisation that was evident in the first half was replaced by scrappy play, lacking the cohesion and the inter-play that caused the home crowd to stand in applause when the whistle sounded at the interval.
The sloppy play eventually gifted the Costa Ricans an equaliser when Andre Blake parried a Joel Campbell shot into the path of an unmarked Johnny Acosta, who tapped in from close range.
"In the second half we just dropped off a little bit," McAnuff said.
"We lost our shape when Lee Williamson came off. He hasnt played much recently, he actually just came back from surgery so he did really well to get fit. I kinda felt like we invited the pressure in the second half, gave up a sloppy goal from our point of view but on the balance of play, we more than matched what has been one of the better teams in our region."
The team, he said, went away from the things that worked for them in the first half.
"We were not getting higher up the pitch and getting them running back to their own goal which had a knock-on effect because we were getting a bit too deep and they were getting into spaces that we were not allowing in the first half. They were picking up the ball in little pockets and because we were not retaining the ball, we were not able to get back up the pitch."
McAnuff, who was visibly annoyed at some of what he called negativity coming from the media, said however, there are many positives coming out of the game and they will focus on those things in time for the next encounter on Tuesday.
He said the team will build on the good play in the first half which he said will give confidence.
"It's massive, that's twice now; we played them in the Gold Cup and we should have won that as well, so we need to turn that [performances] into wins. The group is getting stronger and we responded well to the goal. Years gone by we would have wilted and gone on and lost the game. We are disappointed not to win, but good things to come out of it, for sure."
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