Despite being eliminated at the Copa America group stage, Reggae Boyz Head Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says his confidence level for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup has increased after seeing the team’s performances.

The Jamaicans end their campaign this evening when they take on the already-qualified Venezuela at the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, at 7:00 pm Jamaica time.

The national senior men’s team crashed out of the tournament at the group stage for the third time in their history after a 3-1 defeat to Ecuador on Wednesday. They also lost their opening encounter to Mexico 1-0, which means their record at Copa America continues with eight losses from their eight appearances.

There has been a level of disappointment from local supporters in the team’s efforts recently, but Hallgrimsson believes they should be more optimistic about the Boyz ending their over two-decade wait of qualifying for a World Cup.

“It’s important for us to get a win, but no matter what the result will be, this is a really important tournament for Jamaica in working towards qualifying for the World Cup in 2026 because it’s the closest thing to a World Cup that we can participate in,” he said.

“There has been a lot of questions about: Are we good enough to qualify for the World Cup? We’ve played Mexico and Ecuador and both teams played in the Qatar World Cup. So we played two World Cup teams and, in my opinion, we matched them in all areas, so if anyone was in doubt that Jamaica is good enough to qualify for 2026, I hope those doubts are gone.”

Michail Antonio made history on Wednesday when he scored the country’s first-ever goal at the Copa America. The team will hope to create another bit of history as they seek their first-ever result after finishing without a point at the 2015 and 2016 editions.

However, Hallgrimsson says it won’t be easy due to the performances of Venezuela who beat Mexico and Ecuador to advance to the knockout stages.

“They are the surprise package of the tournament,” he said. “We’ve analysed them before, we knew they were a hard-working and honest team with great individuals, but how they have performed, especially with the confidence they’re playing with is impressive to see. So lots of compliments to the coaching staff and the players for the two wins.

“We go for this game for the win. Of course we hoped and wished that we were in a different position than we are, but it is what it is. But the squad has been really upbeat, good morale, the players are happy and together. I give them a lot of credit for the atmosphere in the camp, it could have been negative because we don’t have a chance, but of course we go into this match wanting to win for a lot of reasons.”

It’s unclear whether the coaching staff will make wholesale changes for the contest, but defender Wes Harding, who has yet to feature at the tournament, is remaining focused on the task ahead.

“You always have to be ready, whether you’re starting or not,” he said. “If you’re starting, you need to be playing well knowing that you can come out of the team whenever, and if you’re not starting, you need to be ready to be called upon. So that’s been my position as of late, just being ready to be called upon. So I’m ready whenever. We feel like we could do better than we’ve done, but it’s fine margins in football, so it’s quite disappointing, but it is what it is.”

Squad

Goalkeepers:

Jahmali Waite

Coniah Boyce-Clarke

Shaquan Davis

Defenders:

Damion Lowe

Dexter Lembikisa

Di’Shon Bernard

Ethan Pinnock

Greg Leigh

Michael Hector

Jon Bell

Richard King

Wesley Harding

Midfielders:

Alex Marshall

Bobby Reid

Joel Latibeaudiere

Karoy Anderson

Kasey Palmer

Kevon Lambert

Forwards:

Demarai Gray

Kaheim Dixon

Michail Antonio

Renaldo Cephas

Shamar Nicholson

Today’s games

Group B:

Jamaica v Venezuela @ 7:00 pm

Mexico v Ecuador @ 7:00 pm