AFTER the Reggae Boyz’s humiliating exit from the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, Head Coach Steve McClaren is adamant major changes are afoot and says certain players’ attitude will not be tolerated ahead of the final round of World Cup Qualifying (WCQ).

The national senior men’s team crashed out of the Gold Cup at the group stage on Tuesday following a 4-1 defeat to Panama at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Jamaica needed to win the game to secure one of the two spots in the knockout stages but were outclassed by the Panamians, with Ismael Diaz netting a first-half hat-trick and Tomas Rodriguez adding further misery late in the contest.

Amari’i Bell’s 27th-minute strike was far from enough as the Boyz finished third in Group C on three points, with Panama on 9 and Guatemala on 6 advancing to the next stage. It’s the first time since 2009 that Jamaica have failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Since his appointment last July, McClaren has yet to beat a country ranked higher than Jamaica, with consecutive losses to the USA last November, a penalty shoot-out defeat to Nigeria last month, and Tuesday’s loss to Panama.

The Englishman believes the players are responsible for the recent poor performances.

“We’ve had no consistency, and that will not get us to the World Cup. Consistency is key, and we’ve not had that. You can talk about systems [but] football is not about systems,” he said.

“It’s about individuals; it’s about character, attitude, working hard, being disciplined, knowing and doing your job. These three games have been a wake-up call for every one of us and I know in the end — it hurts now, and it’s disappointing now, we’ve let a lot of people down in Jamaica — but this is a lesson which we probably needed.”

McClaren says he was let down by individuals in the squad and says his perception of the team has changed.

“Everybody thinks Jamaica is this, everybody talks about talent, but the one thing I remember from this game is Thomas Christensen [Panama’s coach] saying that we have the better players but he has the better team,” McClaren said.

“Teams will win, not individuals; and that’s why Panama have done so well because that’s what they do. And we need to follow suit, and we need to find players to play for Jamaica who will play for the team and not as individuals.”

McClaren says players will have to prove their form and commitment to the programme in the next two months, before the start of September’s pivotal World Cup Qualifying games.

“No one’s guaranteed a spot in this squad — nobody,” he said. “They’ve got to show it from now until September within their clubs and then they’ve got to commit. And when they join, they’ve got to do it again. We’ve seen the good side, we’ve seen the bad side, and I don’t like the bad side — can’t tolerate it. We’re not going to the World Cup with that; we [didn’t] do well in this tournament because of that.”

Many have tipped the Reggae Boyz to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, after being drawn in an all-Caribbean group with Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda — countries ranked well below the Jamaicans.

However, after witnessing recent performances McClaren says a complete mental shift as well as the addition of new players will be needed to overcome the challenge ahead.

“I wanted to give everybody an opportunity in the last four weeks — Unity Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and three games here — [in order] to have a really close look and [see] who’s going to take us forward in these World Cup Qualifiers,” he said.

“Trinidad are coming, they are getting stronger; Curacao are getting strong; we play Bermuda and it’s not going to be easy. So, we need to fight; we need characters. And if [we can find] talent [who] can fight, do the work and be disciplined, they will be in the team. My job for the next two months? Get around, look at some players. We’re also talking to players about recruitment, which we’ve been working on fiercely and you’ve seen already some of the young talent that we’ve got for the future but [who] might be there for now as well.”

Jamaica returns to action in September in the WCQ final round with a trip to Bermuda before hosting Trinidad at the National Stadium.