SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Jamaica senior men’s footballers believe they have enough depth and high calibre players within their squad to take all three points when they meet El Salvador in tonight’s World Cup qualifier at Estadio Cuscatlán.

The last time the Reggae Boyz were in El Salvador was when they lost 0-2 to the hosts in a Concacaf Nations League encounter in March 2019.

Captain Andre Blake said the current squad, replete with players mostly plying their trade professionally in North America and Europe, is superior to the outfit from two and a half years ago.

“We have a more rounded team, we have a lot more talent in the group and we have a team that you can field any player on any day and we would not miss a beat. So, yeah, definitely we are a better team today than we were in 2019,” the goalkeeper, who plays for Philadelphia Union in US Major League Soccer, told journalists during yesterday’s pre-match press conference.

Wide attacker Bobby Reid, who represents Championship club Fulham in England’s second-tier league, expressed confidence the Boyz can prevail once they equal their opponents’ efforts stride for stride.

“First and foremost, you have to fight. You’ve got to match their intensity and match their hard work. If we do that I think we’ve got more than enough quality to come out on top,” he said.

Jamaica and El Salvador are both on five points from six qualifying matches, but the visitors occupy sixth place in the eight-team table because of a superior goal difference. The Salvadorans are seventh.

Mexico are top with 14 points, followed by United States (11), Canada (10), Panama (eight), Costa Rica (six) and last-placed Honduras (three).

Each of the eight teams will contest a total of 14 matches, with the top three automatically advancing to the 2022 World Cup Finals in Qatar. The fourth-place finisher will head to an intercontinental play-off for one more chance to reach the global football showpiece.

The Jamaicans claimed four points from their last two matches to bounce back from a horror start to the qualifying campaign which saw them mustering only one point from four outings.

Reid, 28, said the Reggae Boyz squad now has oneness of purpose.

“Everyone has come together and our one focus and objective is to get three points, so it’s looking good,” he said.

“It’s a different mindset. We know what we need to do to win games and there’s a sole focus on doing that. Everyone has come together and spoken and we’ve come to a focus of how we are going to play and [we are] sticking with it,” Reid reiterated.

When asked if there has been any distraction since the team arrived in El Salvador late on Monday, Blake, who turns 31 later this month, said the Boyz full attention is on today’s clash.

“We are here to play football and we are going to go tomorrow and play football and try to get a result. There is no excuse, we are going to try our best and see if we can get something from the game,” said the ace shot stopper.

— Sanjay Myers