FRANCE 98 – Jamaica-Croatia – R. Simoes: “The second goal hit us very hard”

Comments by René SIMOES, coach of JAMAICA:

“I think that the best team won this evening. We knew that. We tried to impose our own game on them, but the problem was that the Croatians scored from dead-ball situations. With the corner, it’s true to say that we went to sleep a bit. In the first half, we played quite well, but then we were knocked out by the second goal which happened quite quickly. But overall, it was a good game, played fairly. I would like to congratulate the Croatian coach.

“The Croatians, like the Yugoslavs, play a bit like BRAZIL; they’re very skilful, and have a great deal of talent. They have a very strong midfield, with BOBAN and PROSINECKI, and up front, SUKER is very very good. We tried to position a player to intercept long balls and counter-attacks. In the second half, it didn’t work too badly, but the goal hit us very hard.

“ARGENTINA, our next opponents (17 h 30, Sunday 21 June in PARIS), are potential title winners. They didn’t have a brilliant game today against JAPAN, who played quite well, but it’s only the first match, and the side is still finding its feet tactically. ARGENTINA nonetheless has some great players like BATTISTUTA who are capable of turning a game on its head. But we won’t play with any hang-ups.”