KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange, has commended the Jamaican national senior football team for their courageous display in the World Cup qualifying match against Canada at the National Stadium on Wednesday.
Minister Grange said she shared in the disappointment all Jamaicans feel as a result of the team’s failure to advance to the final round of the competition, despite a convincing victory over Canada.
She noted however that Jamaica’s football programme was headed in the right direction and called on the nation to keep throwing full support behind the Reggae Boyz as they move on to the Digicel Cup campaign.
Minister Grange followed the match on the Internet in Europe where she was attending the Creative Clusters Conference.
She said that while the dreams of South Africa had been dashed, the rebuilding programme would continue and Jamaica would reap rich rewards in the future.
In reference to Wednesday night’s game she said: “We left ourselves a little bit too much do in the final stages and when you don’t control your destiny you can only hope for the best outcomes. The Boyz got their best result of the campaign in Wednesday night’s game but we had no control over what transpired in the other game.
“I offer commiserations to Captain Burrell, his team at the JFF and the players and I’m confident that they will take away many positives from the experience and we remain proud of their efforts.”
Jamaica beat Canada 3-0 to finish level on 10 points with Mexico but had to settle for third place because of an inferior goal difference. Honduras finished top of the group with 12 points.
