International football returns to Kingston’s National Stadium on Friday evening when Jamaica’s senior football team hosts Honduras in the opening game of Group B of League A of the CONCACAF Nations League 2023-24.
Kick-off is slated for 9:10 pm (8:10 pm Jamaica time).
CONCACAF announced a slight change to the format of the competition earlier this year with League A now consisting of 16 teams as opposed to 12, and featuring a quarter-final phase instead of a semi-final round immediately after the group stage.
The top four ranked teams in League A as of March this year – Mexico, USA, Costa Rica and Canada – received byes to the quarter-final round, while the other 12 have been divided into two groups of six each.
Group A consists of Panama, Curacao, Guatemala, El Salvador, Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago, while Group B has Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Cuba, Suriname and Grenada.
Each team in League A will play four matches against group opponents – two at home and two away. The top four teams will advance to the quarter-finals and will be joined by the four top-ranked teams in the CONCACAF rankings as at March 2023.
The four teams advancing from the group stage will be drawn into ties against the top-ranked teams which will be played on a two-legged, home and away basis. The four quarter-final winners will advance to the Nations League Finals which retains its previous format of a semi-final round, third-place play-off and final match to determine the champions.
Road to the Copa America
The 2023-24 National League A will also determine the six CONCACAF teams which will qualify as guests for the 2024 Copa America in the United States. The quarter-finals winners will qualify directly to the tournament, while the losers will advance to a qualifying play-off, featuring two single-leg matches.
So there is a lot to play for and both coaches are aware of the importance of scoring a win tonight.
Jamaica has enjoyed the better of the Central Americans in recent times, registering four wins and a draw in the last five contests between the two nations.
But the Honduras Football Federation has re-employed Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda, the man who guided Honduras to the FIFA World Cup back in 2010 in South Africa.
Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson weighs in
The team has changed over the past few years and continues to rebuild but Jamaica’s coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is well aware of their progress.
“Honduras are a very good team, a very physical one as we’ve watched them at the Gold Cup and analysed them. We know their players and capabilities, and we think we’re prepared for that,” the coach said at Thursday’s pre-game press conference.
And though attention to details on the opponents is key to any success, Hallgrimsson also wants to improve his team, especially in the attacking area, which showed weaknesses in the Gold Cup.
“So, we were in general happier, like I said before the squad was announced. We talked about a couple of things that we need to improve from the Gold Cup, going forward, and we really touched on playing against Honduras, especially. We need to put some emphasis on some details of defending but mostly attacking. I’m not going to tell you what that is, but we will tweak some things from the Gold Cup that we need to improve and we expect will be effective against them.”
More on Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson
- Head Coach Hallgrimsson satisfied with Boyz’ progress to Gold Cup quarter-finals
- Coach Hallgrimsson takes positives out of Reggae Boyz Gold Cup campaign despite 0-3 loss to Mexico
- Hallgrimsson happy for win but wants more team play going forward
The Jamaican squad has been forced into a few changes with Michail Antonio, Dexter Lembikisa and captain Andre Blake being replaced by Romario Williams, Javain Brown and Kemar Foster, respectively.
Demario Phillips had already replaced Cory Burke.
Antonio has personal issues to solve, while Lembikisa suffered a bone bruise and is unable to train. Blake is suffering from flu-like symptoms and is a late withdrawal.
Nonetheless, the Jamaica coach says preparations have gone as well as could have been expected, though players continue to join the group at the last minute.
“Few days of course the travelling takes out one preparation day from us, so we’ve had two good training session days with meetings, but we’re getting in the last players now.”
Jamaica’s upcoming matches and squad list
The Reggae Boyz will follow up with another home game next Tuesday against Haiti at the same venue.
Jamaican squad: Goalkeepers – Jahmali White, Conniah Boyce-Clarke, Kemar Foster; defenders – Damion Lowe, Tayvon Gray, Ethan Pinnock, Amari’i Bell, Dishon Bernard, Javain Brown, Adrian Mariappa, Greg Leigh; midfielders – Kasey Palmer, Joe; Latibeaudiere, Daniel Johnson, Kevin Lambert, Bobby Reid, Demario Phillips; forwards – Leon Bailey, Romario Williams, Demarai Gray, Dujuan Richards, Renaldo Cephas, Shamar Nicholson.
