KINGSTON, Jamaica — As part of the preparation for the upcoming Concacaf Nations League Qualifiers, Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz have announced two friendly international matches against Caribbean neighbors.
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has confirmed that its Senior Men’s team will face Grenada in that country’s capital St. George’s on Friday, Aug. 17, and will then follow that up with a match against Barbados in that country on Monday, Aug. 20.
Like Jamaica, Grenada and Barbados are sharpening their teeth for the Sept. 9 start to the widely anticipated confederation-wide tournament.
A local-based group of Boyz, under the direction of Head Coach Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore, has been engaged in training camp July 6 and will break on July 22.
“We would have had discussions with a number of teams, and we have finalized arrangements with Grenada and Barbados,” said JFF President Michael Ricketts.
“Our Nations League campaign starts with a home game against Cayman, so we are looking to play (another game) the week before when we would have had all of our players at our disposal,” he added.
Jamaica plays its first game in the Concacaf Nations League against the Cayman Islands on Sunday, Sept. 9, at the National Stadium. Kick off is at 7 pm local time.
Jamaica, the Caribbean number one ranked team on the new CONCACAF ranking index, will fly then to Bonaire for a meeting with the tiny island on Oct. 14 and are home to Suriname on Nov. 17.
The Boyz will close out the Nations League qualifying play-offs with an away meeting with Central American outfit El Salvador on March 23, 2019.
Following the qualifying rounds, based on performances teams will be placed in Leagues A, B, and C of the three-tier CONCACAF Nations League.
The league embraces a promotion and demotion system and will serve to seed teams and serve, importantly, as a qualifying platform for the expanded Gold Cup, which will have for the first time 16 teams for 2019 edition.
