UNPERTURBED by the Reggae Boyz’s 0-0 letdown against 10-man Cuba in their opening Concacaf Nations League match on Friday, Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts remains confident in the quality of the team and believes the foundations are being laid for the primary objective — qualification to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The Reggae Boyz dominated the match — the first under new Head Coach Steve McClaren — from the opening whistle but they had nothing to show for their efforts, failing to convert any of their 14 shots on target as the Cubans, who were reduced to 10 men in the 44th minute, held on for what seemed an unlikely draw.

The team now travels to face Honduras in their second match on Tuesday. The Hondurans secured a comfortable 4-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in their opening game.

Despite the disappointing result, Ricketts is convinced the team is heading in the right direction and is expecting another strong showing against Honduras, even as he noted that the main target remains the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“The Central American teams are always tough, but if you are going to qualify for the World Cup you have to beat some tough teams,” Ricketts reasoned. “But, I have always had trust and confidence in the coach and the coaching staff. I’m pretty sure that the real big picture is the World Cup in 2026 so let’s use these games — as important as they may be — as part of the process to get to the World Cup.”

“I think he [McClaren] needs more time to coach the players and to assess their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s a work in progress. Certainly, there’s a lot to learn from what happened this evening. I think we played a decent game but we just didn’t score goals,” Ricketts added.

The JFF boss highlighted that the Reggae Boyz did everything they could to score in front of their home fans at the National Stadium, but they were denied by the brilliance of Cuban goalkeeper Rako Arozarena.

“I think their goalkeeper was excellent because he made some brilliant saves and denied us a number of times, but there are interesting times ahead,” Ricketts stated. “I’m sure a lot of people would have been disappointed because I thought we would score some goals, but the breaks didn’t go our way. I’m disappointed that we didn’t score.”

Ricketts also emphasised that the turnout for Friday’s game, close to 20,000 spectators, was the largest he has seen at the National Stadium for a Reggae Boyz match in a long time. He assured that the JFF is committed to doing all it can to deliver the best football product possible.

“It’s a work in progress, but I am definitely happy with the turnout because I haven’t seen so many people in the stadium for a long time. It just tells the story that football is alive and well,” he said. “We just need to do things that will make the fans happy. There were glimpses of brilliance this evening but I’m sure the fans would have wanted to see some goals. The Cubans defended well, and they defended in numbers, and we didn’t really break down their defence to score any goals.”

The Jamaicans will square off with Honduras on Tuesday at 9:00 pm at Estadio Nacional Chelato Ucles.