Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Simoes

Despite a 7-0 thrashing of The Bahamas to open the 2010 World Cup qualifiers at the National Stadium on Sunday, Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) technical director, René Simoes, believes the team still has a long way to go as far as decision making on the pitch is concerned.

"We have to make better decisions, we won but that is what I told them in the changing room after the game, some of our choices on the field were bad," Simoes said.

"I think we need more games playing together as a team and that will improve as we play more teams," he added.

Few of the 20,000-plus fans on hand would have complained on a night when the Reggae Boyz, led by a brace from Luton Shelton and other goals from Andy Williams, Demar Phillips, Omar Daley, Marlon King and captain Ricardo Gardner, blast seven unanswered goals past Bahamas and limit the visitors to just three shots.

Midweek loss

However, they are some who would have taken the result with a grain of salt after a poor showing from the team in a midweek loss to Greneda.

Simoes, while pointing out to the many cases of the upset bug biting a few other CONCACAF teams over the weekend, congratulated Jamaica for taking a professional approach.

Grenada showed that their performance against the Boyz might not have been a fluke after all as they held Costa Rica to a 2-2 draw on Saturday. However, perhaps an even more stunning result occurred in Trinindad and Tobago on Sunday, where the Soca Warrior were clipped 1-2 by Bermuda in the first leg of their qualifier.

"If I ask what you think about Bermuda, everyone will say that is a weak team, yet they beat Trinindad and Tobago at home today," Simoes said in Sunday's post-game press conference.

"I know many will also say the result means nothing because The Bahamas is also a weak team, but I guarantee you if you give them the chance, they will beat you," he said.

"The ball is round and the game has to be played. If you are professional, you need to go out and show it. The team did that today, so it was a job well done," he added.

For Bahamian coach Neider Dos Santos, who saw his team pretty much overwhelmed from the opening whistle, they were simply overpowered by a more experienced team.

Pressure

"We were basically an Under-21 team playing against professionals, so we just tried to hold out for as long as we could to put a bit of pressure on them," he said.

"Unfortunately, we conceded the first goal very early so that made it a lot more difficult for us.

"The players tried their best but sometimes the difference of experience made a huge impact in the game. Now we need to forget that match and see how to improve the performance for the next game," he said.

The teams will play the second leg at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium tomorrow at 4 p.m. The ground will serve as a home ground for the visiting Bahamas as they did not have a FIFA-approved stadium ready to host the game.