After a rough opening match in 2026 CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, Dominica will welcome Jamaica to Windsor Park in Roseau on Sunday.
The small nation in the Windward Islands chain suffered a 6-0 defeat on matchday one against Guatemala, while the Reggae Boyz narrowly defeated the Dominican Republic 1-0.
Match preview
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It was not their worst-ever defeat, but it is hard to imagine Dominica could have begun their 2026 qualification campaign much worse than what we saw on Wednesday.
The Guatemalans scored the opener after just four minutes, and things got a lot uglier for this Dominica side after that, giving up more goals in that encounter than they had in their previous six competitive matches combined.
That lopsided defeat also ended their two-match unbeaten run in World Cup qualifying fixtures, with their only victory in the 2022 cycle coming as the home team, beating Anguilla 3-0 in an encounter played in the Dominican Republic.
Things will not get any easier for Ellington Sabin, as his players face a Jamaican side ranked 55th according to FIFA, 125 places above them.
Regardless of the disparity between themselves and the other sides in Group E of qualifying, their opening defeat was indeed a psychological blow for a team that had been promoted back into League B of the Nations League last year while going unbeaten in five of their previous six competitive fixtures before Wednesday.
Sunday will be their first match at Windsor Park since June 2022, while they have not emerged victorious from an encounter played at that venue since defeating Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2-1 in May of that year.
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Despite taking an early lead in their opening qualifier, the Jamaicans had to fight hard to earn all three points against a well-organised Dominican squad.
In the end, their defensive structure proved to be quite solid, conceding just one targeted effort, while they have not allowed a goal in four of their five competitive matches this year.
Heimir Hallgrimsson will be encouraged to know that his players are finding ways to win close games despite their injury woes, with their last four triumphs in all competitions being by a single goal.
Their poor away form in 2022 World Cup qualifying was one reason why they failed to reach the finals, winning only once and losing their final two qualifiers of that cycle, albeit against much stronger opposition than they are likely to see in the first round of this cycle.
During their 2022 World Cup qualification campaign, the only two victories for the Reggae Boyz occurred when they were ahead at the interval.
This is the first time Jamaica have played in the opening phase of this competition since the 1998 qualification cycle, when they reached the finals for the first and only time to date.
Team News
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Tristan Sandy collected his first senior cap for Dominica on Wednesday, replacing Chad Bertrand in the second half, Briel Thomas reached the half-century mark for international caps, while Travist Joseph is now just one away from 40.
Their record cap holder, Glenson Prince, is two appearances away from 75, Eustace Marshall now has 10 caps with the national team, while Fitz Jolley and Gylles Mitchell can reach the double-digit mark for appearances on Sunday.
Julian Wade, the top goalscorer in the history of this program (20 goals), is three caps shy of 50, while Thomas and Audel Laville each have eight international goals, good for fourth all-time with the national team (six), just one behind former player Kelly Peters for third.
Jamaica will miss Ethan Pinnock this weekend due to a sore ankle, Joel Latibeaudiere has a torn calf muscle, Amari'i Bell is still dealing with a hamstring issue and Demarai Gray will be out with a collarbone injury.
Jahmali Waite made his ninth appearance for the Jamaicans on Thursday, collecting a clean sheet in place of the injured Andre Blake, while West Ham United striker Michail Antonio made his first international appearance since the opening leg of their Nations League quarter-final tie versus Canada last November.
Shamar Nicholson had their only goal on Thursday, giving him 17, just one fewer than Paul Davis and Darren Mattocks for seventh all-time in the history of the Reggae Boyz.
Dominica possible starting lineup:
Prince; Joseph, Marshall, Williams, Mitchell; K. Thomas, Bertrand, Jolly, B. Thomas, Jules; Wade
Jamaica possible starting lineup:
Waite; T. Gray, Bernard, Irving, Leigh; Lowe; Decordova-Reid, Johnson, Anderson; Nicholson, Antonio
We say: Dominica 0-2 Jamaica
Hallgrimsson may have a few regular starters unavailable, but it is difficult to envision even a Jamaican B side not winning comfortably against a Dominica squad that appeared to be in awe of their vastly superior opponents on matchday one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
