Photo: Reggae Boyz team that faced Panama last week Friday inside the National Stadium in Jamaica.
Jamaica’s first international appearance in football was against their Caribbean neighbours Haiti in 1925. They were invited to the French-speaking Caribbean island by Andre Chevalon, president of the 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 Haiti at Sabina Park and won by 6–0. Haiti 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. Haiti’s only appearance at the World Cup finals was in 1974, while Jamaica’s only appearance was in 1998.
Fast forward to 2015 where both teams are in the same group vying for a spot among the 32 teams to the World Cup in Russia 2018. Jamaica and Haiti both started their semi finals campaign on a losing note, 0-2 to Panama and 0-1 to Costa Rica respectively. It is still unclear if the wage dispute between the JFF and the Jamaican players has been settled, however, the Boyz have a mountain to climb and anything less than victory would be a major setback.
Jamaica hold the psychological advantage as they have gotten the upper hand over their Caribbean neighbors Haiti in their last six games. They have won five and drawn one, racking up 13 goals in the process.
For a second consecutive home match, the team were unable to secure a point, let alone a win on home soil, after going down 0-2 to Panama.
Similar to their 2-3 loss to Nicaragua in the previous round, the home team was largely outplayed for huge spells of the game, often looking uncomfortable as though learning the game in their own stadium.
The loss continued a spell of dominance for the Panamanians who have not lost on Jamaican soil since 2004, and also won in Jamaica during the previous World Cup qualifying cycle.
Despite the call by Jamaica’s captain, Rodolph Austin, for the national team to take responsibility following another poor performance in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers at Kingston’s National Stadium on the weekend, he along with Giles Barnes will miss the game because it is being played on an artificial turf. Simon Dawkins left the camp for reportedly “personal reasons”, which further reduces the pool of available players.
Clayton Donaldson who had a cameo appearance against Panama will lead the line while Lee Williamson is expected to replace Austin in central midfield.
Haiti will not roll over and play dead, they would want to improve their chance of making it to the final 32. They are big underdogs, but they have enough fire power to spring a surprise on the Jamaicans. Historically speaking, Haiti hasn’t had much luck against the Jamaicans. Their overall record against Jamaica consists of nine wins, three draws and 17 losses dating back to 1925. Haiti hasn’t defeated Jamaica since 1984, when the two faced off in an international friendly. The last time Haiti defeated Jamaica in tournament play was the 1979 Caribbean Cup.
In order to beat Jamaica, Haiti can’t fall behind early. Jamaica has very good goal tending, so scoring first is crucial. They have an excellent middle field led by Jean Sony Alcénat, but offensive questions still remain. Goalkeeper Johnny Placide has been named team captain. Though there is a question mark over the offensive options of the Haitians, Duckens Nazon emerged as one of Haiti’s best players at the Gold Cup, scoring both of Les Grenadiers’ goals at the tournament and is expected to get them going today.
Game time is 7pm.
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