Consistency key as Reggae Boyz aim for Nations League success

There is value for players, too, in being part of a squad with little chopping and changing.

Rumarn Burrell, one of the strikers in Jamaica’s senior men’s football team, expressed satisfaction that the team is not facing such a situation at this time in League A Concacaf Nations League group stage football.

Jamaica will tackle Honduras in their second Group B football match at the National Stadium on Monday at 7 pm, with Burrell among players expected to lead the Reggae Boyz charge for goals.

“It’s really good that there’s not a lot of new faces in the camp,” he said in a pre-game interview.

Team alterations, with as many as five or six changes per match, had been a feature of the failed 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Barring injuries, the Jamaica squad assembled for this Nations League campaign is expected to be the same. The players got together last week and will remain until their final match in this window, away to Honduras on Monday, October 5.

Jamaica will also play away to El Salvador on Friday.

“All this time that we’re going to be together, we’re just going to grow and be more connected as a team,” Burrell stated.

The 25-year-old forward, on earning his fifth cap, was on target in Jamaica’s first match of the series, a 3-2 win over Guatemala at the National Stadium on Friday night.

“It was a very proud moment for me and my family, to get a goal at the National Stadium. It’s a wonderful feeling, and hopefully more will come,” Burrell said.

“From the team and from me, there’s a lot more to come. Scoring a goal last game gives me more confidence going into the next game to get more,” he added.

The goal scored by Burrell drew praise from the Jamaica team’s head coach, Rudolph Speid. It was initiated by a pass from Kasey Palmer that split the right side of defence and set the striker a clear opportunity on the right side of goal. Burrell hit a shot along the ground across the goalkeeper that lodged inside the netting at the far post.

“Rumarn scored a goal for Jamaica that we haven’t seen for a very long time. So that was the positive for me: the quality of the goals,” Speid observed of the Reggae Boyz’s offensive play. “Even the first one (goal), we had prepared for that pressing job, and it happened. We were just good all round, on the offensive side.”

Palmer and Renaldo Cephas scored the other goals for Jamaica.

Oscar Santis netted both goals for Guatemala, who had other clear scoring opportunities.

Cephas’ play, along with Kaheim Dixon, who also came off the bench at half-time, brought clear danger and significant improvements for the Reggae Boyz.

Additionally, the substitutions were backed up with a change in formation from three to a four-player backline. This prompted questions about team strategy.

Burrell, however, believes that more than systems; it is they who hold the key.

“I feel that, as players, we need to do our job on the pitch,” he said. “And as long as we get that right, the game should go well.”

Twelve teams, split into two groups, are competing at this stage of the competition. Two from each group will advance to the Quarter-finals. The other four contestants got automatic entry. They are Concacaf’s top-seeded teams - Mexico, the United States, Canada and Panama.

The quarter-finals will be played in a home-and-away series in November, with aggregate winners advancing to the Concacaf National League finals at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on March 28, 2027.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com