Reggae Boyz's best bet, a big win


Mexico's dos Santos .. will miss match against Honduras - file

It's just a week before Jamaica's Reggae Boyz face what they may consider to be their most important match in recent years.

It's another must-win game, this time against Canada at the National Stadium as they seek to be among the six teams for the final round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament.

The Boyz are on a high after two home wins against Mexico and Honduras and Canada who are considered the weakest country in the four-team semi-final group should not create many problems for a Jamaican team playing before thousands of partisan spectators.

Better looking

Things have been looking even better for the Boyz since the 1-0 victory over Honduras. Two of the permanent fixtures on the team, captain Ricardo Gardner and forward Ricardo Fuller, have been in good form for their English Premier League teams. A week ago Gardner scored once and set up another goal in a 2-0 victory for his club Bolton Wanderers, while Fuller scored a header as Stoke City helped themselves to a shock 2-1 victory over Arsenal, one of the perennial top four teams in the Barclays Premier League.

While the Boyz are expected to beat Canada, things are not exactly in their hands as far as the two qualifying spots from the group are concerned. With just seven points they could win and still fail to qualify for the next round.

To be safe the Reggae Boyz will be hoping for a win against Canada which will take them to ten points, and victory for Mexico against hosts Honduras, also next Wednesday. The Mexicans, now on ten, will go to 13 points and Honduras will remain on nine, thus putting them behind Jamaica.

Mexico's chances of winning that game received a jolt last week when young midfielder, Giovanni dos Santos of Tottenham Hotspurs in England, sprained his ankle in training. The talented dos Santos is now out for up to four weeks and will miss the match. Mexico have adequate replacements but dos Santos was expected to be one of the key players for Mexico. With the Mexico, Honduras match expected to be a cagey affair with little or no goals, I think that, barring a win by Mexico, Jamaica's best bet to get to the final round is to defeat Canada by a margin exceeding six clear goals and pip one of the two Central American teams on goal difference. Honduras have not lost at home to Mexico in FIFA World Cup qualifiers since 1993. Man for man this Honduras team is, to my mind, slightly better than the Mexican aggregation. The most likely result therefore is a draw or a win by Honduras.

Alsafra's defeat

The flying filly, ALSAFRA, lost for only the second time this year when she was narrowly defeated in the CTL Superstakes by the six-year-old gelding AD INFINITUM last Saturday.

She lost no marks in defeat. At first glance it appeared the filly did not like the wet underfoot conditions and only found her best form mid-way the 2000m race. She gave all she had and was beaten by the better stayer, one who has matched strides with some of the best local-bred horses in recent years