Homegrown squad continue upward spiral
A resurgent Jamaican men’s senior soccer team, the Reggae Boyz, defeated World Cup hopefuls Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad on Thursday.
Michael Binns secured a win for the Reggae Boyz after scoring from a 57th minute free kick, which may have been deflected en-route to beating the Trinidad and Tobago goaltender.
Jamiel Hardware opened the scoring
Jamaica midfielder Jamiel Hardware stunned the hosts early on after giving his team a surprise lead in the sixth minute. The twin island republic responded six minutes later, however, when Kevon Villaroel found an equalizer to delight the home fans.
The match served as preparation for Trinidad and Tobago who will resume the World Cup qualifiers with a match against Honduras at the Ato Boldon Stadium on September 1st. The team from the land of the hummingbird currently occupy the cellar of the six-team standings after managing to secure a paltry one win in its first six games.
Reggae Boyz rebuilding
Jamaica, on the other hand, is in a rebuilding process after failing to make the cut for the final six teams to fight out for three automatic qualifying spots in the hexagonal format for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar in 2018.
Fresh from a creditable performance in the Gold Cup where they lost a nail-biter to hosts United States at the death, the Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore coached the team which is made up of mainly homegrown talent who have passed through the country’s developing youth program.
Whitmore was recently given the nod of approval by the heads of the Jamaica Football Federation resulting in an extension of his contract which had expired at the end of the Gold Cup.
