Jamaica’s head coach Steve McClaren says he was pleased with the tempo at which the Reggae Boyz played on Tuesday night in their 3-0 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines at Sabina Park, a result that sealed a 4-1 aggregate victory and secured the team’s place in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Coming off a 1-1 draw in the first leg last Thursday, the Reggae Boyz produced a much sharper and more decisive performance in front of their home fans, with goals from Warner Brown (27’), an own goal by Andrew Elton Johnson (89’), and Renaldo Cephas (90+4’) sending them through to their sixth consecutive Gold Cup tournament.

McClaren, addressing the media in the post-match press conference, noted the improved energy and urgency from his players, something he had emphasized following the flat performance in the first leg.

“Yeah, absolutely,” McClaren responded when asked if he was pleased with the tempo. “I don't mind keeping the ball and possession, which is fine, but a lot of the times in the first game we turned down playing forward too many times and went square and back, which slowed the game down, allowed them to get behind the ball and made it very difficult for us."

-Sleek Jamaica photo

“So we worked on that for the two days and said we’ve got to have more urgency and tempo in our game,” he added. “Really, we were kind of saying we're coming out and we're one-nil down. Because when we were one nil down, our tempo increased and we've got players with ability and speed who will cause problems.”

McClaren pointed to the need to get the ball to his attacking players more quickly. “We have to feed the front players as often as possible. That is closer to how we want to play.”

The coach also highlighted the team’s improved control and game management. “I thought that the game management from the boys was excellent from back to front, controlled it, upped the tempo when we needed to. I call it playing 90 miles an hour and playing 10 miles an hour,” McClaren explained. “And I think in the first game we played 10 miles an hour too much. This time I was pleased with the balance and we got the 90 miles an hour, which, when we play like that, you know, we cause teams problems.”

Jamaica’s qualification extends their Gold Cup streak, having featured in every edition since 2015. They finished as runners-up in both 2015 and 2017, reached the semi-finals in 2019 and 2023, and the quarter-finals in 2021. The draw for the 2025 tournament is scheduled for April 10.

Tuesday’s victory was also significant for young forwards Warner Brown and Renaldo Cephas, both of whom scored their first senior international goals.

Notably, four of Jamaica’s last five goals have come in the final 10 minutes of matches, with Tuesday’s result marking the third consecutive game in which the Boyz have found the net in second-half stoppage time.