Reggae Boyz’ Head Coach Will Be Revved Up For New Journey
Heimir Hallgrimsson will tackle maiden CONCACAF Gold Cup with a point to prove
Heimir Hallgrimsson will discover Jamaica’s CONCACAF Gold Cup opponents when the draw takes place at SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, California on 14 April.
The head coach, who finally witnessed his first goals for the Reggae Boyz, in his third game at the helm, picked up a score draw against Mexico last Sunday. The result should improve their next FIFA world ranking from their current plight at no.63.
Although victory inside the Estadio Azteca would have propelled the Boyz to the region’s Nations League finals, finishing runners-up in their three-team group was enough to earn an automatic berth to the 2023 Gold Cup finals and avoid the perils of playing in the preliminary round.
A dozen nations qualified into the main from the Nations League. They join Qatar, world-ranked no.50, who as Asian champions have been selected as this tournament’s guest participant.
Canada, Mexico, Panama and the United States topped their respective groups in League A. While Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti and Nicaragua all finished as group winners in League B. Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras all join Jamaica as League A runners-up.
Twelve other teams, all relative minnows, will tackle the Gold Cup preliminaries with three spots into the main draw up for grabs. These will comprise Curacao, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Sint Maarten, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago.
The Preliminary 1st round draw will see the six highest-ranked teams tackle the lowest-ranked teams:
Match-up 1 | Trinidad & Tobago;
Match-up 2 | Martinique;
Match-up 3 | Curacao;
Match-up 4 | French Guiana;
Match-up 5 | Suriname, and;
Match-up 6 | Guyana
The Preliminary 2nd round draw will be:
Match-up 7 | Winner Match-up 1 v Winner Match-up 6
Match-up 8 | Winner Match-up 2 v Winner Match-up 5
Match-up 9 | Winner Match-up 3 v Winner Match-up 4
The main draw comprises a quartet of groups with four teams. Group A will be headed by current champions USA, Group B boasts Mexico, Group C’s seeded side is Costa Rica with Canada as Group D’s top team.
Each group will then be given a side from each of the three separate pots:
Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica or Panama;
Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua, and;
Qatar, or one of the three nations who qualified through the Preliminary rounds.
The two sides who finish highest in the four-team groups will progress to the quarter-finals of the 17th edition of the prestigious competition, which kicks off on 16 June and concludes at the SoFi Stadium on 16 July.
Jamaica sit as the sixth highest-ranked side in the CONCACAF region behind Mexico (world no.13), USA (no.16), Costa Rica (no.31), Canada (no.41) and Panama (no.60).
Lagging behind other sides in the region for years was the reason that the former Icelandic head coach was brought in, with the focus on rebuilding the Boyz and guiding them to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.
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