By Miguel Rapetti
The Icelandic Heimir Hallgrimsson, Jamaica’s coach, considered this Wednesday, after the 1-3 defeat suffered against La Tri in the Copa América, that in the match there were two cases of possible “identical” penalties and that “one was in favor of Ecuador , and the other was in favor of Ecuador.”
“The first half was difficult for us. Ecuador came out very strong, we knew they would come out strong. You have to give them merit. If the first was a penalty, then the second was too. “They were two identical things, but one was in favor of Ecuador, and the other was in favor of Ecuador,” said Hallgrimsson at the press conference after the game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas (Nevada).
“I don’t understand the difference between those two (penalty) cases. (…) I just saw the penalty and for the love of God I don’t know why the first one was a penalty and the other wasn’t,” he insisted.
The Icelandic coach, despite this, highlighted the merits of Ecuador and congratulated them on the victory.
“I have to give credit to my players because they left everything on the field. I want to congratulate Ecuador for the victory and my friend Félix (Sánchez, Ecuador’s Spanish coach), but I think we deserved more,” he stated.
And he said that “Ecuador has a great midfield, they are a young team and it will be interesting to see them in the future.”
Ecuador beat Jamaica 3-1 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas with an own goal by Kasey Palmer, a penalty scored by Kendry Páez and a goal on the counterattack by Alan Minda.
In the second half, Jamaica protested a possible penalty for a handball foul committed by Alan Franco. The referee reviewed it, but decided not to give the penalty.
Ecuador is the owner of its destiny and will advance to the quarterfinals with a victory against Mexico on the third day.
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