Jamaica Deliver KO Blow to Yorke’s Trinidad & Tobago
The Reggae Boyz will tackle Curacao in Tuesday’s showdown, with victory vital to secure a berth at next year’s World Cup finals.
Steve McClaren’s Jamaica are within touching distance of advancing to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, following last night’s tame 1-1 stalemate at Trinidad & Tobago.
Renaldo Cephas broke the deadlock early in the second half for the insipid visitors. Substitute Kevin Molino cancelled out the strike with five minutes remaining, which sent the majority of fans inside the jam-packed Hasely Crawford Stadium into joyous cheers and roars.
With both teams chasing maximum points to elevate themselves up the four-team table, the result dashed the hopes of the Soca Warriors but kept Jamaica in with a shot of topping the table.
Dwight Yorke’s T&T needed to beat Jamaica and then whipping boys Bermuda to stand any chance of sneaking into the runner-up spot. Back-to-back wins would have sent them into the lottery of a play-off match to reach the World Cup.
Now it has been narrowed down to a two-team race to earn the automatic spot for next year’s lucrative World Cup finals. This is between Curacao, who smashed minnows Bermuda 7-0 last night, and the clearly out-of-form Reggae Boyz.
The enthusiastic Trinidad & Tobago supporters, who banged drums, blew horns and chanted loudly, came close to celebrating a 13th-minute opener. Yet skipper Levi Garcia dragged his effort wide of the gaping goalmouth.
Jamaica appeared edgy throughout the contest, while in contrast the hosts dominated and lifted their game thanks to the relentless energy from their vocal fans.
Jamaica shotstopper Andre Blake did well to twice deny livewire Tyrese Spicer and Dante’s Sealy stoppage time effort during the one-sided opening half. Although Jon Russell did find the back of the net for the Boyz on 40 minutes, only for his strike to be ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
The Boyz surprisingly opened the scoring, totally against the run of play. Cephas started and finished a swift counterattack, finding the bottom right corner on 53 minutes.
McClaren shook things up with a double substitution on 67 minutes, sending on Tyreece Campbell and Dujuan Richards to bolster the attack. Yorke followed suit by sending on winger Molino and centre forward Roald Mitchell less than 60 seconds after Jamaica’s changes.
There was more impetus from the Soca Warriors, with Blake saving Justin Garcia’s header, while Jamaica remained totally toothless at the other end of the pitch.
Garcia and Molino linked up well for the hosts, with the pair guilty of fluffing guild-edged chances to snatch a deserved equaliser. Garcia then picked out Mitchell, who somehow skied his shot over the target.
With home keeper Denzil Smith virtually redundant all night, McClaren made another double substitution as his side were clearly second best and stuttering. The Boyz introduced midfielder Karoy Anderson and handed defender Rico Henry his debut.
The spirited Soca Warriors finally grabbed a long overdue equaliser through Molino on 85 minutes.
With victory vital for Yorke’s troops, they continued to fight and leave Jamaica frightened by relentlessly peppering the goalmouth. The nearest they came to finding a deserved winner was during added time, when Blake prevented Nathaniel James’ effort from hitting the back of the net.
It was a below-par performance from Jamaica, who found their visit to Trinidad & Tobago too hot to handle in the cauldron of the excitable home fans.
The Boyz will need the same sort of backing from their supporters when McClaren tries to outwit Curacao boss Dick Advocaat at Kingston’s National Stadium on Tuesday.
Jamaica require maximum points from their Group B clash, otherwise they could miss out completely from competing at World Cup finals.
The two nations with the highest points from the three CONCACAF qualifying groups will get a second shot at advancing to the 2026 World Cup, although this is by tackling the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
A defeat at the hands of Curacao could mean that the Boyz languish behind the other group runners up for the play-off. Although a draw, as Jamaica lie on 10 points but with a decent goal difference as they twice beat Bermuda, would be enough to progress.
Guatemala and Panama are both expected to win their final games in Group A, which would mean they have amassed a dozen points each.
While Group C victories for Honduras and Haiti would give the teams 11 points.
Jamaica’s goal is to celebrate their centenary next year by competing in only their second World Cup finals, but on this latest display they are highly likely to be battered by Curacao.
JAMAICA: Blake – Leigh, Pinnock, King (Lowe), Holgate – Hayden – Cephas (Richards), De Cordova-Reid, Russell (Anderson), Gray (Campbell) – Burrell (Henry). Subs: Lembikisa, Dixon, Nicholson, Cadamarteri, Chambers, Fray, Waite
CONCACAF GROUP A
1. Suriname 9pts (+5 goal difference)
2. Panama 9pts (+2)
3. El Salvador 5pts (-1)
4. Guatemala 3pts (-6)
Suriname 4 El Salvador 0, Guatemala 2 Panama 3
Final matches: Guatemala vs Suriname, Panama vs El Salvador
CONCACAF GROUP B
1. Curacao 11pts (+10 goal difference)
2. JAMAICA 10pts (+8)
3. Trinidad & Tobago 6pts (+1)
4. Bermuda 0pts (-19)
Bermuda 0 Curacao 7, Trinidad & Tobago 1 Jamaica 1
Final matches: Jamaica vs Curacao, Trinidad & Tobago vs Bermuda
CONCACAF GROUP C
1. Haiti 8pts (+3 goal difference)
2. Honduras 8pts (+2)
3. Costa Rica 6pts (1)
4. Nicaragua 4pts (-6)
Haiti 1 Costa Rica 0, Nicaragua 2 Honduras 0
Final matches: Costa Rica vs Honduras, Haiti vs Nicaragua
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