Giles Barnes’ goal helped lift Jamaica to their first Gold Cup Semi-finals since 1999 (photo credit: CONCACAF)

Group C

Schedule:  Venezuela (6/5 Soldier Field, Chicago), Mexico (6/9 Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena), and Uruguay (6/13 Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara)

Head Coach: Wilfred “Willie” Schäfer

Best previous finish in Copa America: Group Stage (2015)

Players to keep an eye on: GK Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union), DEF Wes Morgan (Leicester City), FWD Giles Barnes (Houston), and Simon Dawkins (San Jose).

Outlook:  With only three matches played, Jamaica is tied with, and this is true, Japan, as having played the fewest matches in Copa America.  It was a different time, the crazy, hazy summer days of 2015 when Jamaica lost consecutive 1-0 matches to Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina.  

All crassness aside, a month later, building on the experience of Copa America, Jamaica ousted the United States from the Gold Cup. The Reggae Boyz  lost 3-1 to Mexico in the Gold Cup final in Philadelphia, yet it was Jamaica’s best ever tournament finish.

So what can folks expect from Jamaica this year as a club that may have punched above their weight the last time they were in the States or will the team be punchless, as they were in the previous Copa?

That may be a big ask as the Jamaicans were placed in a competitive Group C  versus a tough Uruguay (FIFA ranked 9th, Elo 12th), Mexico (IN CALIFORNIA mind you; 16th, 10th) after a middling, but dangerous Venezuela (74th, 42nd).

Schäfer knows that the success from the Gold Cup will put a bulls-eye on their backs. The team’s German manager also knows that the enemy that derails their Copa America plans may not be the opponents on the field but internal strife as there is a sordid recent history of monetary issues between the players and the Jamaican Football Federation.

Schäfer, in his remarks to the media following the draw in February, put it right out there: “It is normal for the players coming from clubs to want the best (pay) package, the highest money. In Germany, Britain, Mexico it’s all the same. So before we go to the tournament, five, six weeks before, we are clear. One day before the match I don’t accept this … For the first match we have to be clear about the bonus arrangement.”

Which goes towards explaining why Schäfera felt compelled to note that the island nation will be hosting a one week camp prior to the event.

Whatever turmoil may exist behind closed doors, Schäfer asserts that Jamaica’s messy team from last year is not the one that will be taking the field:

“In Chile (Copa), we lost three times one-nil … but now we have more confidence, as the last big tournament gave more confidence to us, and we got more respect from the other teams. All the teams coming to this tournament are very good teams, Jamaica too. We qualified, this is not an invitation.

“For us, this is a big tournament, and we are proud as a small island to be in one of the biggest tournaments in the world.”

Did you know?  Ian Fleming wrote several James Bond novels in his Jamaican dream home, “Goldeneye.” Jamaica is one, of only three countries, where a boss is more likely to be a woman than a man, perhaps foreshadowing Judi Dench’s role as “M.”