Jamaica and T&T to play Internationals

Schedules for the World Cup International friendly games are almost completed and two of the top teams favored to make it through to the 2006 quarters finals in Germany have secured games against Jamaica Reggae Boyz and Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warriors.

Jamaica Football Federation confirmed that they will be playing against England on June 3, at Wembley Stadium and are looking forward to entertaining their fans. They see it as a glorious opportunity for the Reggae Boyz to start rebuilding their team after a surprising exit from the CONCACAF preliminary round. Jamaica is currently ranked 42 in the world and is quite capable of putting on a good show providing they continue to treat the game as a motivating factor to exhibit their style and show that they can still play at the elite level. In doing that they would also be sending a message to the world of their intension for 2010.

Trinidad and Tobago who is in the World Cup has also confirmed that their Soca Warriors will be hosted by the Czech Republic team on June 3 for their game in Prague. This is a tough friendly for the Warriors because the Czechs are ranked #2 and are favored by the experts to reach at least the semi final with a real chance of winning the Cup. They will also be well tuned after coming off games against World Cup bound Paraguay and Costa Rica on May 27 and 30 respectively.

T&T other international games are scheduled for February 28, against Iceland, whose roster includes players from Chelsea, Fulham, and Leeds of the English Premiership. From England they will travel to Trinidad to play their “farewell” game against Peru which now looks like a must win game for Trinidad in front of their home crowd before returning to England to play Wales.

Peru has the second leading scorer in the preliminaries in Farfan Jefferson and was impressive in holding Brazil to a tie in their first game, and lost 1-0 in the return game. They also won and tied against Paraguay, tied with both Uruguay and Ecuador, and closed off strong with a 4-1 victory over Bolivia. Peru elimination was due to their inconsistent play throughout the tournament by losing to lesser teams and uncharacteristic blow out in some of the even contest.

 With the international game schedule almost to a close it should be crystal clear to the knowledgeable football enthusiast what the exhibition games are all about and why they are played. Teams in the World Cup are keen on playing teams that are similar in style to their schedule opponent in their immediate group. This is customary at all levels of sports. The World Cup is every four years and if a country doesn’t make it they are expected to regroup and try again. This game against England may be the positive focus that the Jamaican football Federation needed after the turmoil at their last meeting. It certainly will give the Reggae Boyz the exposure and hopefully after the game England would be familiar with the standard of football in the Caribbean. As the saying goes “All’s well that ends well” The Reggae Boyz versus England should also provide T&T scouting team with a sample of what to expect in their second World Cup game with England on June 15, 2006.