Lack of funding will force Jamaica to kick off this weekend’s final round of CONCACAF Under-17 World Cup football qualifiers short on international match experience, raising caution flags about the players’ readiness for competition. The Young Reggae Boyz begin their bid for a return to the World Cup against Panama on Saturday without the benefit of any warm-up games against non-local competition in nine months because the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) could not afford the exposure for the players. Jamaica will also play Barbados on April 8 in their final Group A fixture. “The federation is strapped for cash just now,” said head coach Wendell Downswell, who guided the U-17s to the 2011 World Cup in Mexico. “So we’ve not been able to get any form of international games, apart from the games that we played (earlier) in the qualifying rounds.” Without that test, it’s difficult to predict how the Boyz will react in the qualifiers. “It hurts the team to an extent,” Downswell said. “International exposure … you use that as a measuring stick.” Jamaica reached Panama by winning Caribbean round games against Antigua and Barbuda (4-0) and Bermuda (5-0) last July. The squad has since been […]
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Tournament Schedule 12-team event will decide confederation’s representatives to U-17 World Cup PANAMA CITY, Panama — Defending U-17 World Cup champion Mexico will face Honduras and Cuba, while host Panama will meet Barbados and Jamaica in the first round of the 2013 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship. The tournament draw, which was held today and conducted by CONCACAF General Secretary Enrique Sanz at the Hotel Sheraton Panama, determined the first-round opponents for the April 6-19 event. Host Panama and Mexico, by virtue of its 2011 World Cup finish, were pre-seeded into Group A and Group D, respectively. “We are very excited about this tournament, which will showcase the next generation of our Confederation’s upcoming talent,’ said CONCACAF President, Jeffrey Webb, during his opening speech. “We wish the best of luck to all the qualified teams and hope one of the four teams representing our region at the World Cup will retain the title for this category. Team Jamaica The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals, the winners of which will qualify for the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, October 17-November 8. It will be the first time Panama has […]
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Furious Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto said it was an “embarrassment to football” that Friday’s World Cup qualifier with the United States was played in strong snow, while his federation promised to make an official protest. The U.S. won 1-0 but Pinto was riled the game was played on a snowy field with a covering that became deeper as the game wore on. “It was an embarrassment to football, disrespectful to the game,” an animated Pinto told reporters. The game was played at the 19,374 capacity Dicks Sporting Goods Park, home of Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids, nestled at the foot of the Rockie Mountains. Pinto said the “legal conditions” for playing the game were not in place and a Federation official told Costa Rican media that an official protest would be made to FIFA on Saturday. The referee stopped the game briefly in the 55th minute but only to ask ground staff to clear snow from the pitch markings and the game resumed after a few minutes. Costa Rica’s players showed little dissent on the field, going close to an equalizer in the second half, but they vented their anger after the game. “Honestly, it was robbery, […]
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Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz continue to find a World Cup qualfier win against Panama elusive, after drawing 1-1 in their FIFA World Cup qualifier inside the National Stadium on Friday. The Jamaicans, like the Panamanians now sit on two points from as many matches heading into Tuesday’s clash against Costa Rica in San Jose. Goal of the day – Marvin Elliot Jamaica 1-1 Panama, 22’ It wasn’t until the 22nd minute that the home faithful had something to cheer about. Marvin Elliott rose to meet a Demar Phillips corner. Sending the stadium into wild celebrations. Debutant Jermaine Beckford and Luton Shelton linked up well throughout and wide man Garath McCleary found some joy on the right flank, but the Jamaicans were kept at bay by a solid Panama outfit for the remainder of the half. The visitors almost found a way back into the game straight away but Reggae Boyz captain and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts pushed out his left leg to stop a 28th minute effort from Panama striker Blas Perez, ensuring the Jamaicans went into half-time with the 1-0 lead. Both teams came out of the locker rooms for the start of the second half in buoyant […]
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Whether at home in Jamaica or somewhere abroad, if the Reggae Boyz are playing, these are the must-haves for fans who are going to this football game. If you’ve got suggestions, thoughts or feedback regarding our list of the Top 10 must-haves for a Reggae Boyz football match above, please feel free to post them below. Top 10 Jamaica
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For the first time – in this its 52nd staging – the Intercollegiate (Intercol) Track and Field Championship will be used to aid in selecting students to the World University Games. The championship, to be staged over two days – April 5-6 – at the UWI/Usain Bolt Track, will act as the first-round pool of selection for the national team to the World University Games, to take place from July 6-17 in Kazan, Russia. The disclosure was made by Rashid Hall, chairman of Intercol, track and field, during yesterday’s press launch of the 2013 VMBS Intercollegiate Track and Field Championships at the Principal’s Council Room, University of the West Indies. The press conference also witnessed the signing of the Brighton Declaration on women and sport, by Intercol second vice-president, Dalton Myers, general secretary, Moyann Simpson, and treasurer, Valdimir Wallace. The declaration aims to develop a sporting culture that enables and values the involvement of women in every aspect of sport. “We would normally use the National Championships to select the athletes, but because of the closeness between the Games and the National trials, we are unable to do that,” Hall disclosed. “So what we are doing this year is to […]
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Huddersfield striker Jermaine Beckford says he is fit and ready for CONCACAF World Cup Qualification battle against Panama on Friday at the National Stadium. Match time is 8:30 p.m. Beckford could make his international debut for Jamaica after he was replaced in the squad that played against Mexico last month at the high-altitude Azteca Stadium. The 29-year-old was ruled out after sustaining a hamstring injury in an English Championship game against Crystal Palace late January. Having recovered from injury, Beckford played the last 20 minutes for his club against Leeds United on Saturday. That was his first game since the injury that kept him out for six weeks. Now Beckford says he is ready. I played on Saturday for about 20 minutes against Rodolph Austin (Reggae Boy) at Leeds and it felt good. Now I am fit, ready and confident. I can’t wait to score goals for Jamaica,” he told The Gleaner at the Reggae Boyz’s first training session since regrouping at UWI yesterday. HIGH EXPECTATIONS “Nobody has higher expectations than I have for myself in terms of coming out and putting on a performance and doing what I have to do in the game,” Beckford confidently stated. Although […]
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Donovan Ricketts remembers the summer of 1998 well: “People ask me about France ’98, ask me to make comparisons to that team in every interview I do,” the veteran goalkeeper told FIFA.com with a kindly laugh, recalling Jamaica’s first and only trip to a FIFA World Cup. “It was a long time ago, and I was very young.” Ricketts’ teammates in the current Jamaica team watched the ‘98 Boyz huddled around TVs in their neighbourhoods, playing and carrying on with their friends in the streets. They were just boys and they dreamed recklessly of being the ones on those screens someday. But Ricketts was there in the flesh, a 20-year-old back-up goalkeeper soaking it all in from the bench. “The experience was crazy,” said Ricketts, now with Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers. “It meant so much to Jamaica and to me.” “That team from ’98 was a better team than now,” added Ricketts, now 35, vice captain, and approaching a century of caps. “Most of us were playing our club football in Jamaica, so we were together in camp day in and day out,” he said of that 1998 side, coached by Brazilian Rene Simoes, that captured the world’s attention. […]
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