By Juan Carlos Maygua
The CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying tournament reaches a decisive stage in the semifinals. The USYNT will face off against Honduras for one place in Tokyo this summer. It’s no secret that the National team struggled in the last game against Mexico. Head Coach Jason Kreis addressed the media about the upcoming game and gave his impressions about what to expect from their rivals.
“It’s a team that has good attacking options. The fact that they play with two forwards will give us a different look at what we have faced so far, our back four will have to be very connected and in tune with things. A dangerous team and I wouldn’t have it any other way, we should have to beat a good and dangerous team to qualify for the Olympics”. Kreis emphasized the importance of Honduras midfielder Edwin Rodriguez and his ability to create spaces for the team. He also highlighted how lethal Jose Reyes could be with his left foot. In terms of playing style and understanding what is at stake in this semifinal Kreis pointed out that they don’t prioritize results over their ideology, but if a win is on the line “We take it any way we can get it”. He also praised Honduras’ improvement throughout the tournament, leading me to ask him if the National team arrived under more pressure than the rivals. Keeping in mind that to an extent Honduras arrives with a certain level of experience, having participated in the last Olympic editions. “I don’t think Honduras has any more experience or leverage in this situation, because the teams that qualify for these Olympics every four years are completely different. It’s not like this team from Honduras has been to the last three Olympics, it’s not the case. This is a new team trying to make it to the new Olympics, so I don’t think either team has some sort of experience or confidence factor when it comes to this game”.
National Team captain Jackson Yueill spoke about the pressure of having the responsibility to change the team’s bad run in qualifiers. He emphasized that every tournament presents an opportunity to change things positively, “the team is looking good and we’ll try to make the best of it”. I asked him about the possibility of the match going to penalty kicks and if the team has practiced them at any point. Yueill was aware that the possibility was high, especially given the fact that these are elimination games. “Hopefully we can do as much as we can in the 90 minutes, but the team will be ready if penalty kicks take place”. Yuell praised the improvement of the team’s fitness level at this stage of the tournament, “a lot of the guys are starting to hit their stride and are hoping to come out strong against Honduras”.
Defender Sam Vines talked about logistics and how they expect to stop Honduras in the attack. The importance of a long period of ball possession alongside being solid in the first 15 minutes will determine the tempo of the game. The mindset in general is focused on obtaining the victory and breaking the negative run in Olympic participation.