Reggae Boyz equal to ’98 vintage
ENTERING the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup following their Caribbean Cup win, the current Reggae Boyz are the equal of the side which secured Jamaica’s sole World Cup qualification in 1998, believes Ryan Johnson.MLSsoccer.com that the current side have been boosted by more domestic talent gaining experience and professionalism overseas.
The Jamaican-born but Boston-raised Johnson, who plays for Jose Earthquakes in the United States Major League Soccer, told
“Jamaicans are everywhere now,” he said, citing the nine players on the Gold Cup squad who play in Europe and another nine, including himself, who call MLS home. “We have a lot of players that are comfortable in any kind of situation.”
Jamaica reached the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup twice in 2003 and 2005, but failed to qualify in 2007 and were unable reach further than the group stage in 2009.
Now coached by Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, a goalscoring hero in the 1998 World Cup, the Reggae Boyz will open their 2011 campaign in Group B when they play Grenada at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on June 6. Also in the group are Guatemala and Honduras.
“I think we can win every game that we play,” said Johnson. “We just have to have the discipline and the maturity. If we have the maturity to play the way we know how to play, it’s going to be very hard to stop us.”