Reassessment Time For Reggae Boyz Ahead Of Gold Cup Finals
Trinidad & Tobago join Jamaica in Group A, with US naming a new interim head coach
Heimir Hallgrimsson, the Jamaica head coach, may have to rethink his tactics for the prestigious CONCACAF Gold Cup finals after Trinidad & Tobago replaced banned nation Nicaragua. The Reggae Boyz will tackle a Group A that now comprises Trinidad & Tobago, defending champions USA and a preliminary round qualifier — either Curacao, French Guiana, Sint Maarten or St. Kitts & Nevis.
Nicaragua, who lie 77 places behind FIFA-ranked world no.63 Jamaica, have been banned from the Gold Cup following a thorough investigation. It has transpired that the team fielded an ineligible player for eight matches, including the 2022/23 CONCACAF Nations League.
The punishment for Nicaragua will also include automatic relegation to League B for the 2023/24 Nations League.
Yet Hallgrimsson may not be too pleased with the Soca Warriors scooping Nicaragua’s Gold Cup berth, as the Boyz failed miserably in back-to-back home friendlies against the Angus Eve-coached side in March.
An experimental Jamaica team were ousted 1-0 by a youthful Trinidad & Tobago outfit at Montego Bay, and then they were held to a scoreless stalemate by the same opponents at Kingston’s National Stadium.
Eve, Trinidad & Tobago’s most capped player with 117 appearances, impressed the plaudits by twice tactically outsmarting former Iceland head coach Hallgrimsson.
Hallgrimsson will also have to consider how to deal with the United States, who recently announced that the Stars and Stripes have a new interim head coach.
Anthony Hudson, who guided the US to the last 16 at Qatar 2022, failed to win his three home friendlies against Colombia, Mexico and Serbia. However, the 7-1 success at minnows Grenada and a slender 1-0 success over El Salvador resulted in a place at the Nations League finals. B.J.Callaghan has been thrown into the deep end for two elite competitions, and if he can get the desired results will be an overwhelming favourite to bag the head coach position permanently.
He will initially oversee the US tackle Mexico in the Nations League semi-final showdown on 15 June, with Canada and Panama contesting the other semi.
Jamaica face Qatar on the same day inside the Stadion Wiener Neustradt in Austria, and on 19 June come up against Jordan in their Gold Cup warm-up matches.
The Boyz, who have yet to trim down their provisional 50-player squad that includes 10 from the Jamaica Premier League, will kick-off their Gold Cup campaign against the US at Chicago’s Soldier Field on 24 June.
They will then play Trinidad & Tobago at CITYPARK in St. Louis four days later, and complete their group games at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on 2 July.
Jamaica, who reached the Gold Cup final in 2015 and 2017, had been in freefall over recent times under former star players Theodore Whitmore and Paul Hall in charge. Yet under Hallgrimsson there are high expectations from fans and the Jamaica Football Federation alike.
Mexico, the 2021 Gold Cup runners-up, face tricky opposition in Group B as they must tackle revitalised Haiti, Honduras and guest team Qatar — the AFC Asian Cup champions.
Central American sides Costa Rica and Panama will be vying to top Group C. El Salvador and a winner from the preliminaries — either Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia or Suriname — complete the group.
Canada, rejuvenated under British-born head coach John Herdman, will be aiming to improve on their disappointing showings at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar. They will tackle Cuba, Guatemala and a preliminary round qualifier— either Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago — in their Group D games.
The tournament will be played across 14 metropolitan areas in Canada and the US, with the final scheduled for a showdown at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on 16 July.
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