Jamaica in Pot 1, T&T in Pot 3 for WC Group Draw

Jamaica has been confirmed to be in Pot 1 for the 3rd Round Draw of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers alongside Costa Rica and Panama.

The Draw will take place on Thursday June 12, 2025 at 6pm Jamaica time.

▫️Pot 1 - Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica

▫️Pot 2- Honduras, El Salvador, Curacao

▫️Pot 3- Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala

▫️Pot 4- Nicaragua, Suriname, Bermuda

The match schedule for the Final Round will be announced after the official draw.

The 12 remaining teams will be divided into three groups of four teams. Each team will play every other team in their group at home and away, playing a total of six matches (three at home and three away).

Following the completion of the final round, the three group winners will qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup 2026, joining hosts Canada, Mexico, and the USA.

Additionally, the best two runners-up will represent Concacaf in the FIFA Play-off Tournament. In total, the Concacaf region could have up to eight teams at the FIFA World Cup for the first time.

The FIFA Play-Off Tournament will see six sides fight it out for the final two places at the FIFA World Cup 26™ in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

It will involve two teams from Concacaf and one team apiece from the AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL and OFC, and will take place in March 2026 during the the international fixture window which runs from 23 - 31 March.

From the six teams who qualify, the four lowest-ranked nations in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings will meet in bracket semi-finals. The two highest-ranked teams will go directly into the finals. The winners of the two bracket finals will reach the FIFA World Cup 26.

In reply to Maispwi

Unfortunate for Jamaica and T&T…but Group B is by far the easiest group..Both T&T and Jamaica should at least earn a playoff berth

Concacaf World Cup Qualifying Final Round Draw Results

Group A: Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Suriname
Group B:Jamaica, Curaçao, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda
Group C:Costa Rica, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua

House money on Yard to top Group B once Yard can produce the form displayed v the Super Eagles.

Jamaica has the easiest group however Curacao looked better than us in the qualifiers. Trinidad has improved significantly. My hope is the JFF does not underestimate this group and impose their infamous quota system on overseas born or based players. They will have a rude awakening.

In reply to nitro

Good points..

In reply to nitro

Which quota system is this? EVERY previous cycle, coming into the final round, the MAJORITY of players were players playing OVERSEAS no matter where they were born and the MAJORITY of the squads were ENGLAND BORN players. The ONLY time that changed was when we ended up STRUGGLING with zero chance that more Jamaican born overseas professionals came in. Stop chat NONSENSE. Every cycle for the last ten fifteen yrs we have FAILED with heritage players being the MAJORITY of the XI and the overall squad. So trying to blame local players for our failures is silly since they DIDN'T PLAY. Richard King has been in SEVERAL squads and ONLY McLaren has played him regularly. Under previous coaches, Warner Brown would not have received a second look. So yh, it's the quota and not the fact that those English born players weren't good enough to deal with CONCACAF ball��. Cephas was tearing it up in Serbia and then Turkey but no one looked in his direction until recently and until McLaren he spent most of his time on the BENCH. Under Hallgrimmson v US last year, he was the ONLY offense because NO ONE was there to support his runs forward. McLaren recognises that the squad is filled with attacking minded players and has re-organised the system to take advantage of that while looking to still have defensive solidity behind it. McLaren clearly KNOWS his players- their strengths and weaknesses and he will select who he sees as the best for his system and based on performance. I never thought one could play Cephas, Gray and Bailey at once.

In reply to michaelmax


Time will tell if he knows his players. Fortunately, our World Cup draw is as easy as it gets. It is easy to play Cephas, Gray, and Bailey simultaneously, but they should ideally be the attacking front, not Gray playing in midfield, as he did against Guatemala. With Lowe and his "outta-mi-life" kicks and Gray not being a creative midfielder, good teams will shut down Cephas so how will the forwards get the ball to score? Again, our World Cup draw is favorable so we just might get away with this nonsense. Bluntly, it is McLaren not having the gravitas to bench either Bailey or Gray why we are having Gray in midfield. Let's see what happens when more quality players come in during the September window, if it will be Blake, Gray, and Bailey plus 8.

Based on available data since 1998, here's the actual heritage (UK-born) player percentage in Jamaica's World Cup qualifiers:
• 2002: 19%
• 2006: 20%
• 2010: 14%
• 2014: 22%
• 2018: 24%
• 2022: 37%
• Overall (1998–2022): 30% UK-born

So the idea that “heritage players were always the majority” in every squad is not supported by facts. In reality, they’ve averaged about 1 in 3 players, not the majority. Only in the 2022 cycle did we see that number climb to 37%.

This proves two things:
1. Local-born players have been the majority in every cycle, so they can’t be scapegoated but they’ve also had plenty of opportunity.
2. Heritage players have never “taken over” the squad, not even now; the problem has never been who we select, but how we manage, integrate, and prepare them.
Let’s stop pushing the myth that heritage players have “dominated” for 20 years, the data simply doesn’t back that up.
I do not blame the players, Yard or Abroad but the JFF. They have screwed up every world cup cycle.

Cephas has done well but to say he was lighting up Europe is a stretch. His team was relegated to the 2nd tier during the 2023/2024 season and this season in the 2nd tier he did much better.

Season 18/19: 7 goals in the Jamaica Premier League.
Season 19/20: 2 goals in the Jamaica Premier League.
Season 20/21: 7 goals in the Jamaica Premier League.
Season 21/22: 21 goals in the Jamaica Premier League.
Season 22/23: 11 goals in Shkupi's Macedonian Premier League.
Season 23/24: 11 goals in Ankaragücü's Turkish Süper Lig.
Season 24/25: 8 goals in the 1.Lig and 3 goals in the Türkiye Kupasi.

What Cephas has done in recent times is improve his decision making and his passing. His speed is a big asset to the team.

Warner Brown was out injured for a while, returned to the JPL, scored only 2 goals in the 2023/2024 season, so Heimir Hallgrímsson could not have selected him. What Grimmy did was give young talented players like Dujuan Whisper Richards and Kaheim Dixon an opportunity.

Oh, yes, Jamaica did have a quota system for the senior team. Rudolph Speid himself acknowledged this on I Am Sure Sports sometime ago. That he said changed when Heimir Hallgrímsson took charge and advise that is not the case with the senior team however they kept the quota for the youth teams.

In reply to nitro



Xenophobes run rampant with this nonsense.

At the senior level, there is not so much a quota in place, rather a leaning (and I am being charitable here) towards domestic players when selecting teams ostensibly to "buss" them so man and man can eat a food. Green, "Busy" Anderson over Campbell and Morrison for the Unity Cup/Gold Cup is nonsense of the highest order. The only local players who should get a sniff at a 30 man squad are Davis (GK), King (D), Ming (D), and Brown (F).

In reply to FanAttick

yeah boy...jeez

In reply to JoeGrine

He could choose to bench Gray but for WHOM? We are STILL short in midfield which HE has admitted and we have ALWAYS been short in midfield going on last TWENTY yrs MINIMUM.

In reply to nitro

Local players HAVE NEVER been the MAJORITY of the starting XI under Schaefer, nor Whitmore except when qualification was a no go nor under Hallgrimmson. You are chatting COMPLETE NONSENSE. Blake and Kemar Lawrence were the ONLY TWO starters for qualifiers and locals in the squad were NEVER first choice subs. What we had were substandard Championship players who were good at TOURNAMENT football but HORRID in WCQ. We had STRIKERS who missed MORE often than they SCORED and hardly ever scored. Very often BLAKE kept us in matches because he is an EXCEPTIONAL keeper. You keep talking as if the English born players in previous cycles were some sort of worldbeaters. They could NOT handle CONCACAF ball where ppl throw things at you, play LOUD music outside your hotel to disrupt your sleep and could not handle games in the HEAT. They also could not handle CONCACAF fields. You ppl like to claim that it was the locals who caused the issue when the Starting XI and subs were MAJORITY heritage players. Local players mostly saw the BENCH. Last cycle local players were played after our WC dream had DIED. Doing the same thing over & over again and expecting a different result is MADNESS. The ONLY squad that has EVER qualified for a WC had a mix of BOTH with a unity of purpose. Several of those previous players wanted to play for ENGLAND. They were NEVER truly committed to Jamaica. Deal with THOSE facts. I tire of those of you who no longer LIVE here thinking your " foreignness" makes YOU superior and that players are automatically superior because they are BORN IN and play in England. Go sit your ass down.

In reply to JoeGrine

With all due to respect do NOT come to me with this level of STUPIDITY because THAT IS NOT MY POINT. My point is THIS- players must qualify on MERIT. Too often players from ENGLAND have walked into the team in previous cycles because they were playing in England and outside of tournaments, they just were NOT GOOD ENOUGH. They were the ones making up most of the starting XIs and they played CRAP. THATis why we never made it back. Because they were SUBSTANDARD in WCQ. THAT is FACT. YOU may not like dem apples but that is the REALITY. It wasn't locals on the pitch that stopped qualifying.

In reply to michaelmax

Too often players from (JPL) have walked into the team in previous cycles because they were locals who clubs were trying to sell to eat a food or friends of the coach ("Haka"/Alvas/the wing back who's name, rightly, I cannot remember), they just were NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

It cuts both ways my friend and what we need is the very best 11 and squad free of where the players play and where they were born. That is a team I can easily support.

So I am no longer accused of stupidity, would you say Daniel Green deserves selection ahead of Ravel Morrison and Mothersille in choosing 60 Jamaican players? I don't see where I laid claim to English players being world-beaters, however, you accuse me of implying same, nevertheless, I will refrain from labeling your contribution "STUPIDITY" and "COMPLETE NONSENSE". For the record, here are the exceptional players I see on this Jamaican team (1) Blake (2) Pinnock (3) Morrison. Take me to task on those three and we can have a discussion (hopefully free of ad hominem attacks) on their quality.



It is hard to have a civil conversation when you are attributing statements to someone who never stated what you are saying.

In reply to michaelmax



Bluntly, Ravel Morrison is the best creative midfielder of this century, Ray Charles can see that. Gray is not the answer. Palmer is a poor man's Morrison, a very poor man at that. Why Ravel has been reduced to 20 and 9 minutes in the past two games is a mystery. Palmer, Gray etal cannot tie Ravel's boots. The coach seems confused about his midfield, he bemoans the lack of creativity yet benches the only player who can unlock defenses and who the other teams must and do show respect.
Morrison - McAnnuf and Hue are the only creative midfielders we have had since Whitmore. It is argued that Hutchinson has more creativity than Palmer so we will see what becomes of him.

In reply to JoeGrine

Nobody trusts Ravel to last 90 mins and that is not limited to the current coach. He was bouncing from club to club and is a headcase. We ALL know this. Is he fit enough to last minutes?

In reply to michaelmax

I do not expect Ravel to play 90 minutes. I would play Ravel a maximum of 60 minutes, inclusive of a half-time break. Palmer doesn't last 90 minutes, Karoy Anderson and Daniel Johnson seldom did. As the CAM he offers more than Gray and Palmer combined.