The
Jamaica national football team, or The
Reggae Boyz, is the national team of
Jamaica
and is controlled by the Jamaica Football
Federation.After decades in
CONCACAF obscurity, they gained many fans
throughout the world after they qualified for the
1998 FIFA World Cup.Jamaica has won the
Caribbean Cup four times (1991, 1998,
2005, and 2008) finished second twice and come third twice.
History
Jamaica's first international appearance was against their
Caribbean neighbors Haiti in 1925. They were invited to the
French-speaking Caribbean island by Andre Chevalon, president of
the then United Sporting Society and it was for a three-match
series between the 2 countries. Jamaica won all three games by 1-0,
2-1 and 3-0.
The following year Jamaica hosted their
Haitians counterparts at Sabina Park
and won by 6-0. The Haitians remained
frequent opponents and it was not until 1932 that their run of
defeats was broken with a 4-1 home win in Port-au-Prince.
Between 1925 and when Jamaica gained its independence in 1962,
Jamaica had regular games with Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Cuba and
clubs like Racing and Violette from Haiti, Corinthians of Britain,
the Tigers from Argentina, and even a series of matches with a
Caribbean All Stars team in 1952. The Caribbean All Star team
included such notables as Michael (The Ruin) Kruin from Suriname
and also representing Jamaica were Lindy Delapenha and Gillie
Heron. The four games were shared equally with Jamaica winning the
second 2-1 and the fourth 1-0 and the All Stars winning the first
5-1 and the third 1-0.
Those friendly international games were the start of Jamaica's
football journey with most of the home matches being played at
Sabina Park. Many clubs were established during this time including
Kensington, Melbourne, Kingston, Lucas and St. George's Old Boys,
thus providing the talent Jamaica needed at the time.
In 1965 under the leadership of Brazilian coach Jorge Penna,
Jamaica made its first attempt at World Cup qualifying. This was
for the 1966 World Cup finals in England. The preliminary group
included Cuba, the Netherlands Antilles, and Jamaica. Jamaica's
first game was against Cuba which they won 2-0 at Jamaica's
National Stadium. In the qualifying match against the Netherlands
Antilles, Jamaica also had a 2-0 victory with both goals coming. In
the away games Jamaica was held to a goalless draw with the
Netherlands Antilles and suffered a 2-1 defeat to Cuba. Jamaica
then advanced to the final group of 3 which included Costa Rica and
Mexico. The winner in this group would represent the CONCACAF
region. Jamaica lost at home to Mexico 3-2 and in the return leg in
Mexico City the high altitude proved too much for the Jamaicans and
they were defeated 8-0. Jamaica lost 7-0 to Costa Rica in their
first encounter and had a 1-1 tie when they played at home.
In 1968 coach George Hamilton took leadership as Jamaica made an
attempt to qualify for the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico. Jamaica
had only a couple remaining players from the previous World Cup
team and had to rebuild because most of the players had retired or
migrated to North America and England. Jamaica lost all of their
qualifying games in that year. Jamaica's participation in the 1974
World Cup elimination saw the suspension of 17 players on the team
because of poor behavior on a tour to Bermuda. Jamaica withdrew
from the elimination in order to restructure their team.
The 1978 Word Cup in Argentina saw Jamaica playing Cuba and losing
3-1 at the National Stadium and then 2-0 in Havana Cuba. Jamaica
did not qualify.
In 1982 Jamaica did not make an attempt for the World Cup Final set
in Spain due to insufficient funds and a poorly prepared team.
Jamaica did not participate in the 1986 World Cup because
suspension for affiliation fees that was due to FIFA. In
preparation for the 1990 World Cup with coach Jeffery Maxwell
Jamaica won both preliminary games against Puerto Rico 1-0 in
Jamaica and 2-0 at Puerto Rico. The U.S. were their next opponents
and the first leg was a goalless draw. Jamaica lost the return leg
in the U.S. 5-1, ending their qualifying attempt. The United States
hosted the World Cup 1994. In qualifying Jamaica beat Puerto Rico
2-1 and was then faced Bermuda, Canada, and El Salvador from which
two teams would advance to the final round. Jamaica tied 1-1 with
Canada and Bermuda and then lost 2-0 to El Salvador, 1-0 to Canada,
2-1 to El Salvador. Jamaica then beat Bermuda 3-2 but did not
qualify.
Under Brazilian Professor Rene Simones and National coach Carl
Brown, the Jamaican team has become a "Powerhouse" in the Caribbean
region and received "Best Mover" award by FIFA in 1996.
[87708]
The squad struggled in 2006 and 2007, leading some Jamaicans to dub
them
The Reggae Toyz. The team did not make it past the
first stage of
2007
Caribbean Cup qualifying despite hosting the round, eliminating
Jamaica from the
2007 CONCACAF
Gold Cup.
However, with the return of former coach
Renê Simões (who led Jamaica to the
1998 World Cup), there was heavy optimism in the Reggae Boyz camps.
Theodore Whitmore lead the team to
impressive victories over
El Salvador and
Guatemala in the latter
part of 2007. Jamaica started their Road To South Africa 2010
campaign in fine form beating Bahamas 7-0 at home, 6-0 away. They
then fought to a hard 1-1 draw with Canada but lost to Mexico and
Honduras due to what was considered poor team selection from
Renê Simões, which then in
turn lead to his firing. Jamaica announced that Jamaica-born
John Barnes would take over
as manager in November 2008, with former Raggae Boy
Theodore Whitmore leading the team in the
interim. Jamaica were at the bottom of
Group 2
in the 3rd round, but high performances saw them move up in the
table. The team battled hard to 1-0 victories over
Mexico and
Honduras. However, the
Boyz fell just short of advancing to the
final
round. They managed an impressive 3-0 victory over Canada in
their final third round match but failed to move on as Mexico
advanced on goal difference after a 1-0 loss to Honduras.
In 2007
with an U-23 team, they won the silver medal at the 2007 Panamerican Games that was
played in the Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro
. The
striker Keammar Daley was the top scorer (together
with the Mexican player
Enrique
Esqueda) with four (4) goals.
Stadium
The team
plays their games at The National Stadium, known locally as The
Office, which is located in Kingston
. The
stadium opened in 1962 and holds 40,000 people. It got its name
The Office from their 50 match unbeaten run from
1995-2001.
Kits
The team
is currently equipped by Italian
kit provider
Kappa, they debuted in their current set at
the beginning of the World Cup qualifying campaign against The
Bahamas. Previously there were outfitted by Uhlsport, a German
apparel
company. The home kit is a yellow shirt, black shorts, and
green socks. The away is a green, yellow, and green set. There is
also a black away kit, but this has yet to be worn by the Jamaica
squad. The team has had this set from 05-08.
Honours
World Cup record
- 1930 to 1962 - Did not enter (as until
1962, named British Jamaica)
- 1966 - Did not
qualify
- 1970 - Did not
qualify
- 1974 - Withdrew from
qualification
- 1978 - Did not
qualify
- 1982 - Did not
enter
- 1986 - Withdrew in
qualification semi finals
- 1990 - Did not
qualify
- 1994 - Did not
qualify
- 1998 - Round
1
- 2002 - Did not
qualify
- 2006 - Did not
qualify
- 2010 - Did not
qualify
CONCACAF Championship record
Gold Cup record
- 1991 - Round 1
- 1993 - Third place
shared
- 1996 - Did not
qualify
- 1998 - Fourth place
- 2000 - Round 1
- 2002 - Did not
qualify
- 2003 - Quarterfinals
- 2005 - Quarterfinals
- 2007 - Did not
qualify
- 2009 - Round 1
Caribbean Cup record
Panamerican Games record
Players
Current squad
The following players were selected for the 23-man squad for the
South Africa Friendly on November 17, 2009.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Jamaica squad
in the past twelve months.
Jamaica results and fixtures
Matches in last 24 months, as well as any future scheduled
matches
- Notes
References
External links
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| Date |
| Opposition |
| Result |
| Score |
| Jamaican Scorers |
| Opposition Scorers |
| Competition |
| Host/(Venue) |
|
| Nov 18, 2007 |
|
W |
3-0 |
Rudolph Austin, Ricardo Gardner (2) |
- |
Friendly |
Kingston |
|
| Nov 21, 2007 |
|
W |
2-0 |
Ricardo Fuller, Omar Daley |
- |
Friendly |
Kingston |
|
| Feb 6, 2008 |
|
D |
1-1 |
Tyrone Marshall |
William Sunsing |
Friendly |
Kingston |
|
| Mar 26, 2008 |
|
D |
2-2 |
Marlon King, Tyrone Marshall |
Osei Telesford, Aurtis Whitley |
Friendly |
Kingston |
|
| Jun 3, 2008 |
|
W |
5-1 |
Demar Phillips, Marlon King (2), Deon
Burton, Ricardo Gardner |
Marlon James |
Friendly |
Kingston |
|
| Jun 7, 2008 |
|
D |
1-1 |
Luton Shelton |
Khaleem Hyland |
Friendly |
Macoya |
|
| Jun 10, 2008 |
|
L |
1-2 |
Ricardo Fuller |
Shalrie Joseph, Jason Roberts |
Friendly |
St. George |
|
| Jun 15, 2008 |
|
W |
7-0 |
Ricardo Gardner, Demar Phillips, Marlon
King, Luton Shelton (2), Andy Williams, Omar Daley |
- |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Kingston |
|
| Jun 18, 2008 |
|
W |
6-0 |
Luton Shelton (3),Deon Burton
(2),Tyrone Marshall |
- |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Trelawny |
|
| Jul 25, 2008 |
|
D |
0-0 |
- |
- |
Friendly |
Frisco |
|
| Aug 20, 2008 |
|
D |
1-1 |
Andy Williams |
Julian De Guzman |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Toronto |
|
| Sep 6, 2008 |
|
L |
3-0 |
- |
Andrés Guardado, Fernando Arce, Jonny Magallón |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Mexico City |
|
| Sep 10, 2008 |
|
L |
2-0 |
- |
Ramón Núñez, Amado Guevara |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
San Pedro Sula |
|
| Oct 11, 2008 |
|
W |
1-0 |
Ricardo Fuller |
- |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Kingston |
|
| Oct 15, 2008 |
|
W |
1-0 |
Luton Shelton |
- |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Kingston |
|
| Nov 9, 2008 |
|
W |
2-0 |
Roland Dean and Omar Cummings |
|
Friendly |
Grand Cayman |
|
| Nov 19, 2008 |
|
W |
3-0 |
Luton Shelton, Marlon King, Omar
Cummings |
- |
FIFA WCQ
2010 |
Kingston |
|
| Dec 3, 2008 |
|
W |
2 - 1 |
Rodolph Austin and Luton Shelton |
|
Caribbean
Championships 20081 |
Kingston |
|
| Dec 5, 2008 |
|
W |
4-0 |
Eric Vernon Luton Shelton Andy
Williams and Demar Phillips |
|
Caribbean
Championships 20081 |
Montego Bay |
|
| Dec 7, 2008 |
|
D |
1-1 |
Eric Vernon |
Errol Mcfarlane |
Caribbean
Championships 20081 |
Trelawny |
|
| Dec 11, 2008 |
|
W |
2-0 |
Oneil Thompson, Luton Shelton |
|
Caribbean
Championships 20081 |
Kingston |
|
| Dec 14, 2008 |
|
W |
2-0 |
Luton Shelton (2) |
|
Caribbean
Championships 20081 |
Kingston |
|
| Feb 11, 2009 |
|
D |
0-0 |
|
|
Friendly |
London |
|
| May 23, 2009 |
|
D |
2-2 |
Nicholas Addlery, Damion Stewart |
Jean Robens Jerome (2) |
Friendly |
Fort Lauderdale |
|
| May 30, 2009 |
|
D |
0-0 |
|
|
Friendly |
Washington D.C |
|
| Jun 07, 2009 |
|
W |
3-2 |
Jermaine Johnson, Devon Hodges, Keammar
Daley |
Blas Perez, Luis Tejeda |
Friendly |
Kingston |
|
| Jul 03, 2009 |
|
L |
0-1 |
|
Ali Gerba |
2009 Gold Cup |
Carson |
|
| Jul 07, 2009 |
|
L |
0-1 |
|
Celso Borges |
2009 Gold Cup |
Columbus |
|
| Jul 10, 2009 |
|
W |
1-0 |
Omar Cummings |
|
2009 Gold Cup |
Miami |
|
| Aug 12, 2009 |
|
D |
0-0 |
|
|
Friendly |
New York |
|
| Aug 16, 2009 |
|
W |
1-0 |
Devon Hodges |
|
Friendly |
Basseterre |
|
| Nov 17, 2009 |
|
D |
0-0 |
|
|
Friendly |
Bloemfontein
|