🇯🇲 Jamaica's World Cup miss the latest blow for Concacaf
Concacaf stays at six teams in the tournament. Is the confederation improving quickly enough?
Jamaica went into Tuesday’s match hoping for electricity. Instead, it lacked juice in a 1-0 extra time loss to the DR Congo that sends Les Léopards into the 2026 World Cup and the Reggae Boyz back to the drawing board.
Despite the extra 30 minutes, Jamaica put just one shot on target in the entire match.
“I think we lost concentration on a set play. That was the difference between winning and losing,” Jamaica manager Rudolph Speid said. “We tried our best, had a few opportunities but it wasn’t to be”
While Jamaica did defend well most of the game and got a great performance from goalkeeper Andre Blake, it also would seem that the inability to create any dangerous scoring chances also was part of the difference between winning and losing.
If it wasn’t clear, these are not the Reggae Boyz of old. As Leon Bailey once again looked to fight through a knock and understandably grew tired late in a game played under the Jalisco sun, Speid found few options to turn to. Where are the blazers? The speed merchants who come off the bench and run tired defenders ragged? They’re nowhere to be found.
The Reggae Boyz now look to 2030, but every team in the Concacaf region had 2026 circled for quite some time. The North American teams, hosting this edition, were out of the way. There was a clear path to the World Cup. Jamaica’s involved topping a group of other Caribbean teams, simply needing to prove it is the top dog in the region.
Instead, Curacao won the group. Haiti won its group, too. Two Caribbean teams will be at the World Cup. Neither one is Jamaica.
Journalists love a microcosm.
How can I link this soccer game to other soccer games? How do I make it seem like this game mattered beyond what happened on that green rectangle for 90 minutes, or 120 minutes of Jamaica-DR Congo on Tuesday?
So, I’ll avoid the trope of saying Jamaica’s defeat showed everything wrong with the men’s game in the Concacaf region. But it was the final blow in a March international break that was full of them.
Like Jamaica, Suriname failed to advance from the intercontinental playoff, falling at the first hurdle instead of the second and heading home after defeat to Bolivia.
The FIFA Series gave Concacaf teams a chance to measure themselves against similarly ranked teams in other confederations. Aruba won its group, but
Curacao is headed to the World Cup instead of Jamaica, but its tough to see the tiny country getting a point from a group that includes Germany, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast. They fell 2-0 to China and 5-1 to Australia in preparation matches.
Grenada was shut out on consecutive matches, a 4-0 loss and a 3-0 defeat to Africa sides. Trinidad and Tobago got thumped by Venezuela before falling to Gabon on penalties.
And even the traditional powers slogged through the March window. Mexico getting draws with Portugal and Belgium is the most positive result. The United States fell to those same opponents in lopsided losses, and Canada settled for stalemates against Iceland and Tunisia - the latter a scoreless draw that is the fourth time in the last six matches Jesse Marsch’s team failed to score.
The level isn’t high enough. It may show at the World Cup.
While crying Italian fans and European loyalists today are making farcical arguments about who belongs and who doesn’t, there could be some ugly results from Concacaf teams this summer.
Curacao still earned its spot fairly and will be a great story to follow. Haiti has overcome huge challenges to get to this point. Panama has worked for eight years to improve on its showing in 2018 when it lost 3-0, 6-1 and 2-1 in its group games.
But none of that means a blowout from a power will be any more fun if it does come during the World Cup.
It would be easy to say that the way to fix things is to implement all my ideas: Make the Gold Cup less frequent but establish tournaments for developing national teams, move the Gold Cup so there is excitement and investment in infrastructure outside the United States, re-establish regional tournaments and push them into the youth level to promote development in each zone.
The reality is that while those are still good ideas (at least I think so … after all, they’re my ideas) that would close the gap, Concacaf can only do so much.
In the last decade, Concacaf has led its members to water, only for the members to decline to drink or to announce they prefer to drink from a different trough.
The individual members need to get their houses in order.
Many Concacaf nations seem content to outsource their development to other, bigger countries. While diaspora recruitment should be a powerful tool, it should be only one arrow in a quiver full of different pathways.
Countries also need to invest the resources needed to not only make sure those players are training at facilities where they can learn how to perform their best but also do it under the tutelage of coaches with education on how to clearly communicate tactical concepts. Those coaches, in turn, should answer to sporting directors with a vision that extends beyond the end of a camp or a tournament.
Jamaica is a prime example because its potential is so clear. The men’s team has talented players and can draw from a passionate diaspora full of well-coached players. The women’s team has one of the best players in the world, and that same diaspora.
Their issues with the JFF are well-documented, whether it be needing a benefactor for the run to 2015 World Cup qualification or having to strike to have their 2023 World Cup bonuses paid out.
They are led by a manager who was suspended during an investigation into allegations of misconduct in his past, then reinstated after the JFF claimed he had been cleared - something that didn’t totally accurately portray the position the FIFA Ethics Committee reached when it closed its preliminary investigation.
Jamaica will be ratified this month as co-host of the 2031 Women’s World Cup along with the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica.
“This will have a huge impact on the psyche of every single Jamaican,” JFF president Michael Ricketts said when the news was announced. “It is no ordinary feat for a small country like ours to host World Cup matches. This is absolutely tremendous.
“We are very hopeful and optimistic that we can put together an experience that is truly memorable for our players and fans. This is huge for Jamaica and for every person who proudly calls themselves Jamaican.”
Yet, shouldn’t those Jamaicans be asking for more?
There is clear talent in the youth levels. Sponsorship has increased dramatically in the last several years. Even so, the Jamaican men sit on the outside looking in once again.
The women look likely to make the Concacaf W Championship but will have work to do after that. During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the question seemed to be, ‘What would be possible if things were being run in a better way?’
For now, we’re where we always seem to be. So much possibility, so much hope, so few results.