‘The world doesn’t work like that’
• Speid says firing McClaren would have been too expensive • Nobody blameless in Reggae Boyz failed bid for automatic qualification • Asks country to stick with team through intercontinental play-offs
Published:Thursday | November 20, 2025 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE Chairman of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Rudolph Speid says everyone involved in the Reggae Boyz’ disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign should take some of the blame, including him.
Needing to win to automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup, the Reggae Boyz played to a 0-0 draw with Curacoa at the National Stadium on Tuesday to finish second in the group, and will now have to seek qualification through the intercontinental play-offs in Mexico in March.
After the heartbreak in front of a capacity National Stadium crowd, English coach Steve McClaren tendered his immediate resignation, with an impromptu letter in a post-match press conference, where he took no questions.
Though much of the sentiment has heaped the blame on the former coach, Speid believes 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 inspire the nation. So we are very disappointed.
“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.
“But it’s not like we never tried. But it’s one of those situations where everybody has to take a part of the blame,” he stated.
Speid said the results away to Curacao (2-0 defeat) and Trinidad and Tobago (1-1) were what eventually cost the team, but felt they could have done better to acheive better results from those matches.
“With Curacao, we should [have] 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. Any one of them (results) would have sufficed.
“So we have to really look at the things that caused those two hiccups. Big ones, I would say.”
He noted also that the Reggae Boyz never really solved their ball-possession issue and creative spark from midfield.
“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.
“But there are midfielders we could have chosen. But it depends on the type of system you want to play. So you look for midfielders who can work for you.
“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. But now we have four months to figure it out, and I hope we do.”
Nevertheless, the majority of the blame for the team’s failure is being placed on McClaren, who received constant criticism for his team selection, in-game management, and lack of creativity from midfield over the course of his tenure, and many pundits even called for him to be removed after a horrible display at the Gold Cup in the summer.
However, Speid explained that it was not prudent nor financially wise to terminate his contract at the time.
“How do you remove someone who is leading the qualifiers. It’s easy to say, but difficult to do. What would be the rationale? The world doesn’t work like that.
“The coach has a contract and firing him would have been very expensive. But we still thought that with all that we have seen before, we would have been able to make it.
“But 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.
He noted that applications have already started to come in, and that any coach they put in place for the intercontinental qualifiers must be familiar with the teams and players.
“Any coach that comes to the job, after we interview coaches, if they do not know everything about the team, they are probably not the person to employ.
“So when we do the interviews, we will ask if they know anything about the team and if they know the players. And any coach that wouldn’t have come that prepared, probably shouldn’t get the job.”