All agreed with Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Mr Michael Ricketts earlier this month that Jamaica couldn’t have had a more advantageous draw for the final round of Concacaf World Cup qualifiers.

“… I don’t think you could have gotten it any better…” Mr Ricketts was reported as saying when Jamaica, 68th in the FIFA rankings, were drawn alongside 90th-ranked Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago (100), and Bermuda (168).

Indeed, there were those celebrating what they deemed a certain automatic place at the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup to be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

However, after a shockingly poor performance, and elimination for the Reggae Boyz at the Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States — now down to its final four teams — we are all reminded that we can’t count chickens before they are hatched.

After their upbeat 3-0 victory over Guatemala in the penultimate round of World Cup qualifiers at the National Stadium in Jamaica earlier this month, the Reggae Boyz went to the Gold Cup with visions of challenging for the title.

Instead, they were beaten 0-1 and outplayed by a highly motivated Guatemala with a number of different faces from those in Kingston.

And while the Reggae Boyz defeated Guadeloupe 2-1 in their second game, the performance was scrappy at best, with the team losing composure and shape as the end approached. It took near-miraculous saves from captain and goalkeeper Mr Andre Blake to ensure Jamaica took all three points.

Needing to win their final group game to move forward to the semi-finals, the Jamaicans were humbled 1-4 by an admirably efficient Panama.

As he has done previously, Jamaica’s Head Coach Mr Steve McClaren — clearly very disturbed — identified inconsistency as a major problem.

“We’ve had no consistency, and that will not get us to the World Cup…” he said.

He appears to be also disappointed with overall player commitment, even while observing that the Gold Cup experience may serve Jamaica well in the long run.

“You can talk about systems, [but] football is not about systems,” Mr McClaren was reported by this newspaper as saying.

“It’s about individuals; it’s about character, attitude, working hard, being disciplined, knowing and doing your job. These three games [at the Gold Cup] have been a wake-up call for every one of us… a lesson which we probably needed,” he added.

It’s also about teamwork, as emphasised by Mr McClaren in arguing that Jamaica needs players “who will play for the team and not as individuals”.

We believe, though, that after just under a year in charge, entering the final phase of World Cup qualifying, the coach can’t keep looking for new players. By now he surely should have a fair idea of those with the requisite technical and tactical know-how and commitment on whom he can rely to get the job done.

The plan must be to use the experience of the Gold Cup as a source of learning, motivation, and focus.

If Mr McClaren and his support staff get their players in the correct frame of mind, this very disappointing Gold Cup could turn out to be — as he suggested — a much needed lesson.