Despite the Reggae Boyz already booking their spot to the final round of Concacaf World Cup Qualification, Head Coach Steve McClaren says the team needs to significantly improve its home form, starting today against Guatemala at the National Stadium at 6:00 pm.
The national senior men’s team and the Guatemalans are both through to the next round, but they will be vying for group honours as both are unbeaten in their three games with nine points each.
Under McClaren, though, Jamaica have failed to win his three games at the National Stadium since his appointment last July. In the team’s last fixture at “The Office” last November they went down 0-1 to the USA in the Concacaf Nations League quarter-finals. They also had goalless draws against Cuba and Honduras in September and October, respectively. The team, did, however beat St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year at Sabina Park and the Montego Bay Sports Complex, respectively.
Following a less than impressive 1-0 win over the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on Saturday, McClaren says a strong performance in front of the home crowd is important in building confidence all-round.
“It’s about winning here, and it’s about scoring goals here. That’s my next goal and next milestone: To make this a place where people want to come. To do that, we have to win games here, and to win games, we have to score goals here, and we haven’t done enough of both,” he said.
Midfielder Jon Russell, who started the last three games, has never played on Jamaican soil despite his previous seven caps and he’s looking to make a good impression.
“It will be massive,” Russell said. “I haven’t come on at home yet, so the aim is to play in front of our fans and play to the best of our ability. It will be amazing to win and get a goal, but especially in front of our fans; it makes it a lot more special.       I’ll be more than happy and grateful to play in front of the fans tomorrow.”
Jamaica boast a strong record against Guatemala, with 11 wins and three draws in their previous 18 meetings. However, the Central Americans have avoided defeat in four of their last five games and McClaren says he’s expecting a tough test.
“They’re very good technically,” he said. “Tactically, they’ve got a settled team and a way of playing, so it will be a totally different game; one end of the spectrum to the other end from the BVI. [Today] is important because it’s against a very good team technically. They had a great win against the Dominican Republic the other day [so] it’s going to be a tough game, it won’t be easy and again, it’s another experience.”
McClaren is also urging the likes of Leon Bailey and Demarai Gray to improve their attacking input ahead of a busy summer.
“I don’t think we’re converting our chances as often as possible in the games and, certainly here, we haven’t scored the goals,” he said.
“Warner Brown’s come in and contributed well, [Rumarn] Burrell’s come in and contributed well. What we need now is goals from our wide players and midfield players, and that’s one reason why Jon has come into the team. Front players, wide players, midfield players need to contribute more, otherwise we’re not going to win football matches and we’re going to see inconsistent results.”
Regarding team news, McClaren says centre back Richard King will be a game-time decision after picking up an injury against BVI while Isaac Hayden has recovered from an illness which kept him in Jamaica for the last week.

JAMAICA SQUAD
Goalkeepers — Andre Blake, Shaquan Davis, Jahmali Waite
Defenders – Damion Lowe, Richard King, Kyle Ming, Dexter Lembikisa, Amari’i Bell, Greg Leigh, Mason Holgate, Joel Latibeaudiere
Midfielders – Isaac Hayden, Kasey Palmer, Ravel Morrison, Jon Russell, Dwayne Atkinson
Forwards – Leon Bailey, Demarai Gray, Renaldo Cephas, Kaheim Dixon, Warner Brown, Rumarn Burrell, Tyreece Campbell, Romario Williams