Photo: Reggae Boyz captain Rodolph Austin will be looking to lead his team to a win as Jamaica begin their Journey to Russia campaign against Nicaragua on Friday night.
THE Reggae Boyz are in the starting blocks and ready to kick start their campaign In pursuit of a place among the 32 teams in the Russia 2018 World Cup. The well travelled Winfried Schafer has silenced his critics with a stellar display in the recently concluded Copa America and have taken the Reggae Boyz to their first ever Gold Cup final after that.
The pragmatic Schafer was quite elated, while reminding the fans that those games were good and will prove to be the catalyst to propel the team to Russia and beyond, but it is now in the past.
“We start over with Nicaragua on Friday night,” he advised.
Jamaica has risen three places according to the latest FIFA rankings to 52nd in the world and go up against the 139th ranked La Azul y Blanco (the blue and white). It may appear to many fans as a miss-match, however, in today’s game anything can happen on any given day.
Nicaragua will not roll over and play dead despite their status. Coach Henry Duarte will look to the likes of captain Juan Ramón Barrera Pérez who currently plays for SC Rheindorf Altach in the Austrian Football Bundesliga to control things in the middle of the park. He is a good striker of the dead ball, one who has the vision of a chameleon and can pick a pass with pin-point accuracy. He is sometimes compared to Arturo Vidal of Chile.
In defence, the Colombian-born Luis Fernando Copete Murillo who currently plays for Walter Ferretti in the Primera División de Nicaragua will aim to keep things tight and try to prevent Jamaica’s potent strike force from getting on the score sheet.
Nicaragua is currently coming off a string of good results and will be hoping to spoil the Reggae Boyz party at the ‘Office’ tomorrow night.
Schafer is in a desperate bid to keep the Jamaicans chanting his name just as how they chanted Usain Bolt’s name at the recently concluded World Championship in Beijing, China and in an effort to do so he has beefed up his squad by summoning thirty- three-year-old Blackburn Rovers midfielder Lee Trevor Williamson. The 5′ 10-inch player has Premier League experience, having played with Watford FC between 2007 and 2009. At that time, he was a teammate of fellow Jamaica international defender Adrian Mariappa.
Williamson, known for his vision, creativity and high work rate, will be looking to add depth to the Jamaican team.
However, the absence of midfielder Joel ‘Jobi’ McAnuff and winger Garath McCleary for personal reasons, will be taken as a positive by attacker Joel Grant. Grant overly blessed with an abundance of talent, a skilful player equally adept at playing the one-two or dribbling by a challenger, has not had the best time as he picked up a second injury in December after helping Jamaica to win the Caribbean Cup in Montego Bay. He is hoping that this will mark a positive turn.
Wes Morgan, Jermaine Taylor and Daniel Gordon are among three defenders that will be missing from the back line, however, Schafer is upbeat that he has the ammunition to get all three points and keep a clean sheet. To sure up things at the back, defender Michael Hector, who was snapped up by Jose Mourinho’s English Premier League champions Chelsea Football Club for £4 million just before the transfer deadline from Reading FC has now returned the squad. He was given a rosy welcome by his teammates on Wednesday.
Darren Mattocks as the name suggests, is expected to plow his way through the Blue and White defence with his pace and trickery. He scored two goals in the Gold Cup, including one in the semi-finals against hosts USA and the Vancouver Whitecaps striker is hoping the team can treat local fans to some of the good football they only got to witness on television, live at the National Stadium on Friday.
The return leg will take place next Tuesday at the Nicaragua National Football Stadium, with the winner on aggregate advancing to the fourth round, where they will be placed in Group B alongside the seeded Costa Rica and Panama, as well as the winner of the Haiti vs Grenada match-up.
The top two teams from each of the three groups in Round Four will advance to the Fifth and Final Round where the top three earn tickets to Russia, and the fourth-placed team enter a continental play-off.
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