SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz went back to the training pitch last evening for the first time since their 1-1 result against Panama inside the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday night.

The Boyz, who arrived in San Jose on a chartered flight on Saturday morning, held a recovery session in the hotel’s swimming pool, but were back on the pitch at the Piedades de Santa Ana facility about 15 minutes from the Real Intercontinental Hotel.

Assistant head coach Alfredo Montesso, who has been suspended from tomorrow’s game against Costa Rica after he was sent from the touchline seven minutes from the end of Friday’s match, thought the session, which lasted just shy of 90 minutes, went well, as the technical staff tried to refocus the minds of the players.

“The plan was to get them focused back on the competition,” he told the press. “We had a talk with the team because I believe we lost an opportunity to win the game in Jamaica. I think that we didn’t believe that we could kill the game (score another goal) after they scored the first goal, but it is good to get our minds back into the game, realise what we did, and approach this game against Costa Rica because it will be another test to remain in the competition.”

The Brazilian added: “We believe that this phase of the campaign is really tight between all the teams and it will be decided by details, and always it will be important to capitalise on these points.

“This is not what we would want today, we would have wanted to win the game at home and go to four points, but at least we got a point and that is important.”

After the obligatory warm-up exercise led by physical trainer Andre Waugh, Montesso took charge of the tactical session, which was watched by Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). President Captain Horace Burrell, other executives of the JFF, members of the technical committee, and a small group of supporters who travelled with the team on the charter.

Emphasis was placed on the team staying composed, keeping possession of the ball, having the two central midfielders anchoring the middle of the pitch, while rotating the attackers and springing the flank players to provide crosses.

On the defensive side of the ball, it was to stay compact, while shifting across the pitch as a group, as the team presses for the ball starting with the strikers.

It appears that the team will play with an orthodox 4-4-2 formation, with Jermaine Taylor and Adrian Mariappa in the centre, flanked by Demar Phillips and Omar Daley. Rodolph Austin and Marvin Elliot marshalled central defence, with Joel ‘Jobi’ McAnuff and Garath McCleary on the flanks, with Luton Shelton and Jermaine Beckford, who is nursing a broken left hand, as the two strikers.

Montesso thought the session went very well.

“It was good, they realised and agreed with what we discussed,” he offered.

During the session, Montesso and head coach Theodore Whitmore interrupted on a few occasions when they weren’t satisfied with the organisation of the central midfield area.

“We (midfielders) have been moving too much inside of the field, and we lose the shape of the team, especially when we don’t have the ball,” he explained. “We were not established, we were not compact and organised on the pitch, and when that happens we are always going to be unbalanced in the game, so that is what we were trying to set with Austin and Marvin, and they reacted pretty well, especially towards the end of the training session.

“They were keeping more composure, and every time at least one of them was central in the middle of the pitch to give options for the team to move the ball from the zone of the pressure, this is what we were talking to them about.”

The Boyz will practise at the Estadio Nacional for 45 minutes this evening, ahead of tomorrow’s 8:00 pm (9:00 pm Jamaica time) kickoff.

Honduras lead the hexagonal round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament with four points, followed by the USA on three, with Mexico, Jamaica and Panama on two each, and Costa Rica at the bottom of the table with one point.

Mexico will host the US, while Honduras visit Panama in tomorrow’s other clashes.