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• Reggae Boyz squeeze out victory to stay perfect in Nations League qualifying

  Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz found Suriname at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, a tougher assignment than anticipated after they squeezed out a 2-1 victory.

  A header from Corey Burke in the seventh minute of play and a penalty from Darren Mattocks in the 16^th minute threatened to start a rout. However, Donnegy Fer’s 37^th minute tap in marked Suriname’s entrance into the game.

  While Jamaica would get a number of chances, to go further ahead, in truth, Suriname were dangerously close to equalizing on a number of occasions and could not be argued with if they believed they dropped at least two points from the game.

  Mattocks, while happy with the win, believes the Jamaicans, with himself the most at fault, need to be more clinical if they are to enjoy further success, especially with El Salvador waiting in their next fixture.

  “I’m disappointed in myself,” said Mattocks.

  “A player of my caliber should put away most of those chances but at the end of the day an ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” he said.

  “We’re just going to take the three points and move on and come ready for the next game.”

  Mattocks believes the game against El Salvador is going to be much tougher.

  “El Salvador is a very hostile environment so we have to go there really prepared,” he said.

  “We can’t have a performance like this against El Salvador,” he said.

  “We have to go back to the drawing board and these opportunities that we are creating we have to put them away,” he ended.

  Jamaica now have three wins from their three games with 12 goals for and one against.

  Their record is bettered by Haiti, who have the same number of wins but with 17 goals and one against, while Cuba have scored 14 goals without a response from their opponents.

• Reggae Boyz search for big win today

  Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will be trying to protect their perfect record when the inaugural Concacaf Nations League resumes on Saturday.

  Following clean sheet wins over the Cayman Islands and Bonaire, the Reggae Boyz will now host Suriname in their third game at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at 7:00 pm.

  The Reggae Boyz will enter the day in seventh position on the Concacaf Nations League qualifying table with maximum six points.

  Twelve other teams are on six points, six of which are ahead of the Reggae Boyz courtesy of goal difference.

  The teams ahead of the Reggae Boyz are Curacao, Haiti, Cuba, Canada, Bermuda, which have played a game more, and St Kitts and Nevis.

  The Reggae Boyz’ opponents for Saturday, Suriname are in 15^th place on four points following a 0-0 draw with Dominica in their opening game in September and a 5-0 victory over the British Virgin Islands last month.

  The Reggae Boyz will enter the game as favourites as they have the three most important things in their favour – home advantage, form and history.

  In terms of form, the Reggae Boyz are on a high. They defeated the Cayman Islands 4-0 in their opening game on September 9 at the National Stadium in Kingston and then recorded a second straight clean sheet win by downing hosts Bonaire 6-0 on October 14.

  In terms of history, the Reggae Boyz have defeated Suriname in their last three outings, the most recent was in 2016 at the National Stadium. However, all three victories were 1-0 margins and as a result Suriname cannot be taken lightly.

  This is the penultimate round of matches in the first phase and Jamaica will close out the Nations League qualifying play-offs with an away meeting with Central American outfit El Salvador on March 23, 2019.

  Following the qualifying rounds, teams will be placed in Leagues A, B, and C of the three-tier Concacaf Nations League.

  The Concacaf Nations League embraces a promotion and demotion system and will serve to seed teams and serve, importantly, as a qualifying platform for the expanded Gold Cup, which will have for the first time 16 teams for 2019 edition.

  Jamaica squad: Andre Blake, Cory Burke, Damion Lowe, Ladale Richie, Ricardo Thomas, Amal Knight, Fabion McCarthy, Shaun Francis, Devon Williams, Kemar Lawrence, Ricardo Morris, Javon East, Maalique Foster, Je-Vaughn Watson, Owayne Gordon, Peter-Lee Vassell, Darren Mattocks, Alex Marshall, Jamiel Hardware, Jermaine Taylor.

• Reggae Boyz fullback Kemar Lawrence named to MLS Best XI

   Kemar Lawrence will join Jamaica’s squad for the Reggae Boyz Nation’s League encounter against Suriname brimming with confidence after he was named in the MLS Best 11 for 2018.