Jamaica’s first two games of the final round of Concacaf qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 26™ could not have gone any better. With back-to-back victories over Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago, the Reggae Boyz are riding high in Group B ahead of their crunch clash with second-placed Curaçao on 10 October.
As regional rivals Canada, Mexico and the USA have been given automatic berths at the World Cup as co-hosts, Jamaica have a glorious opportunity to reach the global showpiece for the first time since France 1998. And Steven McClaren’s men are determined to seize their chance in the land of opportunity.
Following the September qualifiers, Jamaica midfielder Kevon Lambert, who plays for USL Championship team Louisville City FC, spoke to FIFA about his country’s chances of reaching the World Cup, how McClaren has brought more competitiveness to the squad and what it would mean to him to compete on the highest stage of them all.
Kevon Lambert: Two wins and two clean sheets as well is massive because sometimes it boils down to goal difference. It’s definitely a positive start and we hope to definitely build on this in the coming games.
We attacked and defended well as it can get really competitive at times. It shows the balance of the team all around, that we can score goals and we can also defend well and keep a clean sheet as needed.
They are in second place so it would definitely be good to beat them and make the gap a little bit bigger (between us) and that would put us in an even better spot going into the other games. This game is one of the most important games going forward.
We haven’t been there since 1998 and that is a very long time. We want to create some history and take Jamaica to the World Cup once again. That is a lot of motivation so we have to stay focused on the task and hopefully we can pull through it and make it to the World Cup next year.
Playing against them would definitely make it a bit harder, I would say. But now that we are not playing against them in qualifying we do have a really, really good chance and definitely need to take advantage of it and make use of it.
He’s added a lot for the team, you can see it in the players he has brought in. He has a lot of experience; he has been doing it for a very long time. He has brought in good energy and the people he has brought in alongside him on the coaching team have done a really good job. It is more competitive now and you want that in a team where people are competing day-in and day-out and with this opportunity that we have going into the World Cup, it will bring that competitive side into it more. He has definitely brought that energy into the squad.
It would mean everything. As a football player growing up that is the dream. We’ve seen it on TV so many times and that is the main dream. It would be one of the main boxes you can tick or main accomplishments in a footballer’s career.
Over the past few years, football has grown tremendously in the US. With the World Cup coming next year that would make the sport even bigger. Based on what I’ve seen it’s definitely one to look forward to and I think it’s going to be super-exciting.
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Picture credit: Concacaf
