Jamaica’s Senior National Men’s Football team still has a lot to play for despite being already eliminated from the FIFA Qatar World Cup Finals slated for later this year.
That’s the view of senior Reggae Boyz defender Damion Lowe, ahead of Thursday’s CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier against El Salvador at Kingston’s National Stadium at 6:05 pm.
“It’s [today’s game] very important because it’s going to be a long year still, we have the Nations League coming up which is very important. We want to win it!” Lowe, son of 1998 World Cup star, Onandi, told the media.
“Unfortunately we didn’t qualify for the World Cup [Finals], so these games will prepare us to reach the goal of winning the Nations League,” he added.
The failure of this version of the Reggae Boyz unit has sparked much discussion among fans, many of whom are of the belief that inadequate preparation played a huge role in the team’s failure.
Lowe has no doubt about the importance of proper preparations.
“Again preparation is key, if we don’t prepare properly we won’t qualify for World Cup or win anything, so now we just have to adjust as an organization, as the federation to focus on just preparing, keeping the squad together, as many players for as long as possible so we can gel and play well.”
The Jamaicans are in the seventh position in the eight-nation Final Round on seven points, only ahead of Honduras on three.
Canada lead with 25 points, followed by the US (21), Mexico (21), Panama (17), Costa Rica (16), and El Salvador on nine. The top three finishers are guaranteed places in Qatar, while the fourth-place team earns an intercontinental play-off against a team from Oceania.
But for Lowe, it is important that the Reggae Boyz finish as high on the list as possible.
“We are playing for pride, we are playing to show that ‘hey, listen unfortunately we didn’t qualify [for World Cup Finals] but we still have a task at hand and we want to show the nation that we are still working hard and that we want to get positive results and it’s a new beginning, a new venture, a new journey, the focus is the Nations League right now.’”
Meanwhile, head coach Paul Hall has selected a 24-man squad that boasts a number of youngsters, a clear indication of his long-term plan to build for the future.
And the plan is not lost on Damion Lowe.
“It’s good, it’s always good to get the youngsters out, get them capped, get them experience, we see other countries are doing it, bringing in the young players and giving them a taste of the professional world because at the end of the day if you don’t give them caps, if you don’t give them the experience when will they get experience?”
He added: “The next crop of players, the U20s, U17s going into 2026, they are going to be 25, 26, 24-year-old players, so it’s good. I’m happy; I was in their shoes once, I started playing for the National team at 23, so it’s good for them to come out and show their class and work hard to be a mainstay in the national program.”
