Gardner

MIAMI, Florida:

DISAPPOINTMENT, in a word, said it all for the body language and attitude about 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 on 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.

Last opportunity

Jamaica's last opportunity went down the drain yesterday when Panama, which started the game with 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. .... 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."

The team's captain, Ricardo Gardner, said: "I feel it's a very disappointing tournament for us."

The Jamaicans placed third in Group A on three points.

"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."

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 winners and runners-up from the other groups.

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

"The spirit all went down," Gardner said.

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, the Reggae Boyz captain 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 and it'd be good if you hear it from them."

Gardner also said the team was short on preparation, but the coach, Theodore Whitmore, did as best as he could.

They had a one-week camp in the Cayman Islands with some of the players, and 11 players travelled from Jamaica enroute 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.

"A lot of players were off with their teams, 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 could but the coach did as great a job as he could in the little bit of time that he had us together," Gardner said.

The team is due home today at 2 p.m.