Members of the Reggae Boyz team celebrate after striker Warner Brown scored his first international goal in their Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary second-leg encounter against St Vincent and the Grenadines at Sabina Park on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Jamaica won 3-0 to advance to the 2025 Gold Cup. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)
March 29, 2025
No room for Reggae Boyz complacency
JAMAICA’S Reggae Boyz Head Coach Mr Steve McClaren hit the nail on the head following last week’s difficult first-leg, away contest against St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Concacaf Gold Cup preliminary-round tie.
“There [are] no easy games in the Caribbean…” Mr McClaren said after Mr Leon Bailey’s last-gasp penalty gave Jamaica a 1-1 result. We can readily borrow from that to say there are no easy games in international football.
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It’s a line that should become gospel for the Reggae Boyz, the Jamaica Football Federation, and all supporters as we look forward to the group stage of the Gold Cup and Concacaf World Cup qualifiers later this year.
As it turned out, the Jamaicans won the second leg against St Vincent and the Grenadines by a 3-0 margin at Jamaica’s headquarters of cricket, Sabina Park, on Tuesday.
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Statistically, that was a comfortable 4-1 margin on aggregate.
Yet even in that second leg on home turf, before buoyant home supporters, it was obvious how easily things could go wrong whenever the admirably spirited Vincentians came forward.
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A big plus for Mr McClaren and his players was the showing by locally based players who operate in Jamaica’s premier league.
Justifiably, Mr McClaren singled out 22-year-old Arnett Gardens striker Mr Warner Brown, whose right-footed thunderbolt provided the opening goal at Sabina.
“We’ve got no problem giving people a chance, and Warner deserved it… I felt with his speed, running in behind, he’s a nightmare for defenders,” the coach said.
Speed and a refreshing sense of adventure also came from another Arnett Gardens product, Mr Renaldo Cephas, who plays professionally in Europe. Mr Cephas’s composed left-foot strike provided the third goal on a solid night for Jamaican football at Sabina Park.
Importantly, the performance yet again underlined the benefits of twinning homegrown talent with the professionalism, know-how, and skill of those born and bred overseas. The latter category is perhaps best exemplified by the outstanding Mr Demarai Gray.
Beyond all of the above, the main objective is for Jamaica’s national team to be at next year’s 48-nation Fifa World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Understandably, automatic spots for the three host nations have generated confidence that there is more elbow room for Jamaica to make it to the ‘Big Dance’.
We are told that in addition to the three hosts there could be as many as five other Concacaf nations qualifying.
That’s three automatic qualifiers and possibly two others who would need to win play-off ties against representatives from other confederations — all of which means it is possible that eight Concacaf nations could make it to the World Cup.
For Jamaicans, the elephant in the room is the extraordinary improvement in the quality of football being played in Concacaf.
Let’s consider Panama, who eliminated both the USA and Canada to test Mexico in last weekend’s final of the Concacaf Nations League.
Also consider that Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Haiti, among others will all be competing for a place at next year’s Fifa World Cup.
We must take nothing for granted. There will be no easy games.
