Costa Rica Football Federation Issue Statement As JFF File Complaint With FIFA
Reggae Boyz have to rely on their latest defeat being controversially voided to have a shot at making it to the FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar
Jamaica’s interest in reaching the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals remains up in the air. The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) claim that Costa Rica fielded a pair of COVID-positive players in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over the Reggae Boyz, but the Costa Rican Football Federation dispute the allegation.
The Boyz needed to defeat Costa Rica at Kingston’s National Stadium, in their CONCACAF World Cup qualifier, to stand any chance of making it to the Qatar 2022 tournament in November. The reversal meant Jamaica were eliminated from contention for a spot in the World Cup finals.
Following a lame defeat, courtesy of a goal from Joel Campbell who boasts some Jamaican heritage, the JFF’s medical commission controversially claimed that Costa Rica’s victory included two players who should not have been involved because they had tested positive for COVID.
The JFF have since lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, football’s governing body, but the Costa Rican Football Federation have issued a statement that claims all players were cleared based on CONCACAF guidelines.
The Costa Rican Football Federation stated that all members of the delegation had tested negative in Mexico on Monday, before their arrival at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Tuesday (February 1).
However, the statement admits that one player and three members of its delegation tested positive as new cases on Wednesday afternoon, following their PCR test results in Jamaica.
The statement read: “The new positives were immediately isolated and, as indicated by the protocol, these results were communicated to the FIFA delegation and the local authorities.
“At the same time, all the documentation was presented proving that the other two players who scored positive were recovered cases with less than 25 days of having had a positive result for COVID-19.
“Therefore, based on existing regulations and based on the documentation presented by the Costa Rican Soccer Federation, both FIFA and CONCACAF authorised the participation of said players.
“Once the first half of the match against the Jamaicans had passed, the officials of the medical commission of the Jamaican Football Federation stated that they recommended that the players not participate. This position did not come from any health authority in the country or from a soccer authority.
“The case of the two asymptomatic players who recently recovered from COVID-19 was explained to said representatives, including the laboratory results that showed cycle threshold data that proved to be recovered cases and with a low viral load. For this reason, both players travelled normally with the delegation that returned to the national territory this Thursday morning (February 3).”
If the JFF’s complaint with FIFA results in the Boyz being awarded maximum points, this would propel Jamaica back into the mix with a slender shot of appearing at Qatar 2022 with three more qualifiers remaining.
Jamaica desperately needed a rare victory inside the National Stadium, on top of group results going in their favour of for the remainder of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. But recently-installed head coach Paul Hall saw his side slip up to maintain his 100 percent losing record at the helm from four matches.
Should Jamaica being awarded three points from their appeal, then they at least have a remote shot at making it to the World Cup finals for the first time since their debut in 1998.
The Boyz have definitely missed out on the three automatic qualifying berths, whatever the outcome of their appeal. Jamaica are now clutching onto the possibility of snatching fourth spot in the eight-nation group, which would ensure an inter-confederation play-off.
El Salvador, table-topping Canada and rock bottom Honduras are Jamaica’s opponents next month in the World Cup qualifiers. However, three wins on the bounce after having just scored one success in 11 games seems a tough ask.
Should the Boyz bounce back into contention to qualify for football’s leading tournament and actually qualify for Qatar 2022, then surely Disney will be clambering for the rights to make a movie that would fill the pockets of the JFF who could then afford a top-class coach to get Jamaica back where they belong as a team that is feared.
CONCACAF World Cup qualifying results: El Salvador 0 Canada 2, Jamaica 0 Costa Rica 1, Mexico 1 Panama 0, USA 3 Honduras 0
CONCACAF World Cup qualifying table (after 11 games): Canada 25pts (+14 goal difference), USA 21pts (+9), Mexico 21pts (+6), Panama 17pts (+1), Costa Rica 16pts (+1), El Salvador 9pts (-7), Jamaica 7pts (-8), Honduras 3pts (-17)
Jamaica’s remaining matches
El Salvador (h) March 24, Canada (a) March 27, Honduras (h) March 30
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