Reggae Boyz Head Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson believes his team has a legitimate shot of making it out of their group in next summer’s Copa America in the USA.

The draw, which took place at the James L Knight Center in Miami, Florida on Thursday, initially saw the national senior men’s team drawn in Group D where they would have faced off with the likes of global powerhouses and many-time champions Brazil, former winners Colombia, and two-time champions Paraguay.

However, the rules state that no group can have more than three CONMEBOL (South American) teams, so Jamaica moved to the next available group which was Group B, featuring Concacaf giants Mexico, 2022 World Cup qualifiers Ecuador, and in-form Venezuela.

Hallgrimsson, who attended the draw ceremony, said he’s confident the Boyz can qualify for the knockout stages.

“I would say we’re quite pleased. I think it’s an equal group, probably the most equal group out of all them. Meaning, there’s not one, even though Mexico is highest on the FIFA ranking, [and] they’re not likely to be runaway winners, so everyone can take points from everyone and there’s not a team that everybody can take for granted,” he said.

“Unlike some other groups where you can, on paper, say these are clearly the winner. So I don’t think in our group there’s a clear winner and when you have a group like this, you just have to focus on yourself and try to do as few mistakes as possible. We just need to be prepared when it comes and everything is possible we can progress from this group like I would say like all other teams,” Hallgrimsson added.

Jamaica’s opening game will be against Mexico on June 22 at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. They travel to Paradise, Nevada to play Ecuador on June 26 at the Allegiant Stadium, then wrap up their group play against Venezuela on June 30 at the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Hallgrimsson says he’s pleased with the venues and facilities chosen, but has a slight concern with the weather conditions come June.

“The stadiums are good, of course; we are on the hotter zone in US at that time but I know the one in Texas is closed [retractable roof] so they can control the temperature inside. I think we have one closed venue, the other two are open. It’s going to be hot for sure and affects our training time. Normally, we train at so maybe we will move to earlier hours like 9:00 or 10:00 am so we’re not training at the hottest time of the day, but we’ll discuss that later with the players when we join,” he said.

If the Reggae Boyz make it out of their group, they could potentially play defending World Cup and Copa America champions Argentina, to be led by legendary Captain Lionel Messi as the bracket sees the winners and runners-up from Group A and Group B meeting in the quarter-finals.

The tournament begins on June 20 with the final set for July 14 at the Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami.

Copa America 2024 Draw

Group A: Argentina, Peru, Chile, Canada/Trinidad & Tobago

Group B: Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Jamaica

Group C: United States, Uruguay, Panama, Bolivia

Group D: Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica/Honduras