Reggae Boyz look to wrap up group section play in opposition to Haiti
Jamaica will look to shut out the group stage of the CONCACAF Nations League A Group B in profitable fashion when it faces Haiti contained in the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad on Sunday.
In different Group B video games, Suriname hosts Grenada and Honduras engages Cuba. All video games might be performed at 7:00 pm (Jamaica time).
Jamaica’s dominance
Jamaica leads the group with seven factors, adopted by Cuba on 5, Honduras on 4, then Haiti on three, Suriname on two, and Grenada on the backside on one level.
Victory for the Reggae Boyz on Sunday would cement their place atop Group B, thus advancing to the quarter-finals, the place they may face both Canada or Costa Rica. In the event that they end as runners-up, they may face Mexico or the US for an opportunity to take part within the Copa America Match scheduled for June 20 to July 14 subsequent yr within the US.
The groups ending third and fourth within the group stage keep away from relegation from League A of the Nations League 2024/25, however don’t qualify for the quarter-finals, whereas the groups ending fifth and sixth within the desk might be relegated to League B within the 2024/25 model of the Nations League.
The quarter-finals might be performed on a house and away format within the November FIFA window. The winners on combination qualify for the semi-finals of the Nations League and the Copa America 2024.
Nonetheless, the losers miss out on the semi-finals however head to a playoff for one final probability to qualify for Copa America 2024.
Haiti’s nationwide staff was pressured to play its dwelling video games outdoors of the nation due to gang violence and political protests contained in the nation for the previous few years.
For Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz who have been depleted with quite a lot of withdrawals in final Thursday’s sport in opposition to Grenada, West Ham United’s striker Michail Antonio has arrived in Trinidad, as did the trio of Richard King, Kyle Ming and Jahshaun Anglin to supply Jamaica with its full complement of 23 gamers.
Proper again Tayvon Grey suffered an harm within the match in opposition to Grenada and has returned to his membership for remedy.
Coach Hallgrimsson’s expectations
Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has one and just one intention – to win the sport and thus stay prime of the group.
“We need to win the group, we need to win the sport, we predict we should always have performed higher in Jamaica vs Haiti, however we all know the standard of Haiti, they’ll punish and so they actually punished us within the opening minutes of the sport in Jamaica.”
The Icelander was referring to the primary leg sport in Kingston when Haiti shocked Jamaica with a 2-0 lead, forcing the house facet to rally for a share of the factors.
He continued: “We all know that Haiti is combating for his or her lives in Group A of Nations League in order that they don’t need to be relegated, and so they shouldn’t be relegated, they’re such an excellent staff!”
The coach added that his gamers can have “to be prepared for what’s coming on this match,” as they don’t need to be shocked as they have been within the first assembly.
And that’s why the technical employees made the trouble to get the total complement of gamers at its disposal. They don’t need to take any probabilities.
The coach believes the three gamers who’ve been added deserve their probability to be with the primary staff.
“They deserve it, they’re among the many finest gamers within the Jamaican Premier League and so they have been with us earlier than, in order that they know the way we’re engaged on how we wish to play, and many others. We’ve performed camps in Jamaica, we spent a top quality two or three days, solely defenders, in order that they know what we would like from defenders.”
In the meantime, Michael Hector, who performed in opposition to Grenada in his first sport for Jamaica since 2021, was comfortable to be again representing the nationwide staff.
“It was a proud second once more for me and my household, it’s been a very long time since I represented the nation and it was good to be again with the boys,” he admitted, even when it meant being within the presence of quite a lot of new faces.
The Charlton Athletic defender/midfielder, who made his debut in 2015, is impressed with the standard residing within the participant pool.
“The standard has improved, clearly within the attacking space, and a variety of younger faces concerned to clean up the staff,” he noticed, hinting on the energy of the reserves and the truth that gamers might be pushed to excel always which finally creates wholesome competitors for locations within the staff.
The coach is anticipated to proceed rotating his gamers and based mostly on the significance of the sport, it’s probably that Captain and goalkeeper Andre Blake will return between the sticks, and gamers similar to Leon Bailey, who got here off the bench final Thursday, and Damion Lowe might be projected into the beginning staff, as probably Michail Antonio, who missed the final sport.
The Jamaican squad contains goalkeepers Andre Blake, Kemar Foster, Jahmali Waite; defenders Di’Shon Bernard, Dexter Lembikisa, Damion Lowe, Michael Hector, Greg Leigh, Richard King, Kyle Ming; midfielders Bobby Reid, Daniel Johnson, Joel Latibeaudiere, Kevon Lambert, Karoy Anderson, Jahshaun Anglin, and Demario Phillips; forwards Michail Antonio, Shamar Nicholson, Leon Bailey, Romario Williams, and Demarai Grey.
Factors standings
| Groups | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| Jamaica | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Cuba | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Honduras | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Haiti | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Suriname | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 2 |
| Grenaada | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | -7 | 1 |