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‘We’re very disappointed’ - Speid says they’re all at fault for Reggae Boyz failure to secure automatic World Cup berth
November 20, 2025
Chairman of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) technical committee, Rudolph Speid, says everyone involved in the Reggae Boyz's disastrous World Cup Qualifying campaign should take some of the blame, including himself.
Needing to win to qualify for the 2026 World Cup automatically, the Reggae Boyz played to a 0-0 draw with Curacao at the National Stadium on Tuesday night to finish second in the group. The Jamaica team will now seek qualification through the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico next March.
After the heartbreak before a full capacity stadium crowd, English coach Steve McClaren tendered his immediate resignation, via a letter in the post match press conference.
McClaren took no questions.
Despite the blame being heaped on the former England coach, Speid said it should be shared across the board.
"I am very disappointed on a lot of levels. After the hurricane we were really looking for something to cheer us up, and qualifying for the World Cup would've inspire the nation. So we are very disappointed," he said.
"But people have a right to be angry. I am angry. Everybody is angry because this was one of our best opportunities to go to the World Cup.
"It's not like we never tried. But it's one of those situations where everybody has to take part of the blame," he stated.
Speid said the results away to Curacao (1-0) and Trinidad (1-1) eventually cost the team.
"With Curacao, we should've at least tried to get a draw there. And in the last Trinidad match, we could have had a victory, but we gave it away at the end. Those would have been the most crucial points that we messed up."
He noted also that they never solved their ball possession and midfield issues.
"You could see that we had a struggle to find midfielders. In some squads we only had four or five. It was a position (for which) we didn't have enough persons," he said.
"But there are midfielders we could have chosen. It depends on the type of system you want to play. So you look for midfielders who can work for you."
He added: "With a new coach (coming in) with new ideas, it is possible that he'll find new ways to look at things. So I am hoping that's the case. But we know the midfield is a problem. Now we have four months to figure it out and I hope we do."
There were calls for McClaren to be sacked after a horrible display at the Gold Cup in the summer. But Speid explained that it was not prudent or financially wise to terminate his contract at the time.
"How do you remove someone who is leading the qualifiers? What would be the rationale? The world doesn't work like that," he admitted.
"The coach has a contract and firing him would be very expensive. But we still thought that with all that we had seen before we would have been able to make it," Speid added.
"It's crucial we move forward and put this behind us quickly. Everybody has a right to grieve, but going forward we need to be positive. We need everybody to rally behind us. That's what we need from the nation now. And whoever the new coach is we need to rally behind him," he said.
