Trinidad and Tobago's senior Soca Warriors will up the ante on preparations for their upcoming Copa America qualifying assignment, when they tackle Jamaica's Reggae Boyz in a two-match friendly series on Friday and Sunday.

The games which are scheduled to be played at the Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, and the Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima, are both set to be contested at 4:00pm Trinidad and Tobago time. Both games will assist Angus Eve and his Soca Warriors in gauging their readiness for the upcoming Copa America qualifying encounter against Canada, scheduled for March 23.

They will also assist Heimir Hallgrimsson, and his Reggae Boyz, who are also in preparation mode for their Concacaf Nations League (CNL) semi-final engagement with United States set for March 21.

Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica met three times last year, twice in friendly matches in Montego Bay, and those were followed by their Concacaf Gold Cup clash in June. The Soca Warriors won the second friendly 1-0, after the first match ended goalless.

However, Jamaica came away comfortable 4-1 winners in the Gold Cup group stage meeting.

Jamaica were also responsible for sending Canada into the Copa America playoff match, by virtue of the away goal rule, after they rallied to secure a 4-4 aggregate scoreline in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal in November.

Like Canada, Eve's Soca Warriors also missed out on an automatic place at the 2024 Copa America, as they lost 2-4 on aggregate to United States, despite winning the second leg 2-1 in Port of Spain.

Since then, Eve has backed his team to remain competitive and, by extension, build on that momentum from the win against United States.

“Like the US team, the Canada team is built up the same, (with) a lot of European-based players. Some of the players (are) playing in the MLS (Major League Soccer), some playing back home, but most of the players are playing in Europe and they are playing with good teams,” Eve assessed in a recent interview.

“But we think we can go in there; we think we can compete with anyone right now and we want to show that. We want to show that confidence that we could go out on the park and compete with anyone,” he added.

Eve believes that with the right application, the team will compete strongly against Canada, as well as in the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, which promises to be both demanding and exciting.

“We just have to be tactically aware. A coach can only give instructions. When the players go out there, they have to have the mindset to play the position, to play the role that the coaches give them to the best of their ability because, a coach could never tell a player what to do for every second of every minute of a game,” he reasoned.

"We will use those games (against Jamaica) as the final two warm-up games going into the CONMEBOL playoff match and when that happens, then we will pick that final squad,” Eve declared.

The winner of the playoff between Trinidad and Tobago and Canada, will join Jamaica, United States, Mexico, Panama and either Costa Rica or Honduras, as the Concacaf representatives at the prestigious Copa America, which will be hosted in the United States from June 20 to July 14.

Matt Garbett ruined James McClean’s farewell party as the Republic of Ireland were held to an embarrassing friendly draw by New Zealand.

Both McClean – who was making his 103rd and final senior appearance for his country – and manager Stephen Kenny, out of contract on the final whistle and with seemingly little hope of an extension, might have hoped for a rousing conclusion at the Aviva Stadium.

But a paltry crowd of 26,517 saw NAC Breda midfielder Garbett cancel out Adam Idah’s first-half opener to claim a 1-1 draw on a night when Ireland, who have slipped to 58th place in FIFA’s world rankings table, were at times out-played by a side some 45 places below them.

A review of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, which ended fruitlessly for the Republic with Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by the Netherlands, will be considered by the Football Association of Ireland’s board next week, but evidence of the progress Kenny believes has been made was in painfully short supply once again.

Ireland, starting with a flat back four, made an uncertain start as the All Whites enjoyed early possession in their opponent’s half, but as McClean and Celtic winger Mikey Johnston got the bit between his teeth down the left, they started to make an impression.

New Zealand defender Michael Boxall had to be in the right place at the right time to deny first McClean and then – from the resulting corner – central defender Shane Duffy, with the home side pinning the visitors back.

Kenny’s men continued to dominate possession but found space at a premium as the All Whites defended their box resolutely until the 28th minute when they were finally pierced, if with an element of controversy.

Sligo defender Nando Pijnaker felt he had been caught by Mark Sykes – making a first start for his country – as he dispossessed him, but his appeals for a free-kick went unanswered as the midfielder found striker Idah, who made no mistake.

The visitors might have been back in it seven minutes later when, after the Irish defence had struggled to deal with Tim Payne’s cross, skipper Chris Wood diverted Marko Stamenic’s shot wide with his knee as it sped across goal to the relief of goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Kelleher was called upon for the first time three minutes later when he clawed the excellent Sarspreet Singh’s curling attempt out of his top corner and he saw the same man fire into the side-netting after being released by Liberato Cacace in a strong finish to the first half by Darren Bazeley’s men.

The Liverpool goalkeeper departed at the break to be replaced by Mark Travers and the newcomer suffered a scare within four minutes when Singh picked out Garbett with a cross and saw the striker lift a shot wastefully over the top.

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Jayson Molumby fired just wide after being set up by Johnston and Duffy headed a McClean corner straight at goalkeeper Max Crocombe with Ireland responding, but they were rocked with 59 minutes gone when Singh again stretched the home defence and when the ball fell to Garbett on the edge of the box, he smashed it past the helpless Travers to level.

Singh tested Travers with a 64th-minute strike and Kenny chose that moment to make two significant changes, the first to replace Idah with Evan Ferguson and the second to hand McClean a standing ovation as he made way for Ryan Manning as his international career drew to a close.

Andy Moran was handed a senior debut as Kenny looked for inspiration, but Travers had to rescue defender Andrew Omobamidele after substitute Max Mata went for goal and substitute Ryan Manning prevented Mata from winning it at the death, while the final whistle came as a merciful release for the home fans.

Levi Colwill enjoyed an “amazing” night as he made his England debut in the win over Australia and is more than happy to play out of position to stay in contention.

The 20-year-old defender played the whole game as England ran out 1-0 victors at Wembley, making the step up from winning the European Under-21 Championship in the summer.

Having spent last season on loan at Brighton, Colwill has started all eight of Chelsea’s Premier League games so far this term.

He earned a first senior call-up from Gareth Southgate last month but had to wait until Friday’s friendly against the Socceroos to make his bow.

“It was amazing,” he told beIN Sports.

“(A win and a clean sheet is) the best way to have a debut and hopefully we can build off the performance against Italy as a team and individuals and go from there.”

Having progressed through the ranks for both club and country as primarily a centre-back, Colwill started on the left of defence against Australia and has also operated there for Chelsea in recent weeks.

“Obviously, it is a different role,” he said.

“But I have been playing there for my club and I am enjoying it and if it gives me a chance to start and to play, I’m all for it.”

Southgate made 10 changes for the game as a blend of fringe players and young talent was given the chance to stake a claim.

The England manager admitted afterwards that he had given his team a “difficult task” as a lack of “cohesion” made for a tougher evening than he would have liked.

“We have had a few days, we met on Monday so we have been training hard,” Colwill added on the unfamiliar look to the team.

“Getting to know players is obviously tough as that isn’t a lot of time but I think we put in a performance we can be proud of and we have just got to build from there.”

Jamaica and Cameroon played to an entertaining 1-1 draw in their maiden encounter at the Omnisport Stadium in Limbe, Cameroon on Wednesday.

Four new players have been called to Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz 23-player squad for their international friendly against South Korea at the at Hwaseong Sports Complex on September 3 and a ‘practice match on September 6.

Nineteen-year-old forward Kameron Simmonds, 17-year-old goalkeeper Liya Brooks, 28-year-old defender Sioban Wilson and defender Maliah Atkins are the new players that will be vying for spots on Jamaica’s senior women’s team that has already qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

The call-ups add depth to a strong unit, most of which were members of the World Cup qualifying squad, even though there are a few absentees because of injury.

As part of his stated policy, Coach Lorne Donaldson will be using this opportunity and other windows this year to look at other players who were not involved in the recent World Cup qualifiers.

The full squad includes Sydney Schneider, Yazmeen Jamieson, Chantelle Swaby, Allyson Swaby, Vyan Sampson, Chinyelu Asher, Kayla McCoy, Atlanta Primus, Marlo Sweatman, Khadija Shaw, Tierney Wiltshire, Drew Spence, Mireya Grey, Trudi Carter, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Deneisha Blackwood, Tiffany Cameron, Shania Hayles, Kameron Simmonds, Liya Brooks, Siobhan Wilson, Giselle Washington and Maliah Atkins.

The squad and the technical staff are scheduled to assemble in Hwaseong on August 30.

As they begin preparations for the CONCACAF Nations League tournament in June, Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz has been confirmed for a friendly international against Catalonia at the Montilivi Stadium in Girona, Spain on May 25th.

Interim Coach Paul Hall, who has reportedly been offered the job full-time, and his staff will use this game as a warm-up and a further look at the players, who will lead the team into the very important Nations League tournament which starts in early June.

 Jamaica, now in group A, will play away to Suriname on June 4, host Suriname on June 7, and host Mexico on June 14 before rounding out group play on June 26 away to Mexico.

The game gets underway at 6:45 pm.

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory lies on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. The capital is Barcelona and it has a population of 7.7 million.

As the Catalan Federation is affiliated to the Royal Spanish Football Federation as one of the several Spanish regional football federations, Catalonia cannot be affiliated with either FIFA or UEFA as a national member association and is therefore not allowed to participate in official competitions for national teams such as the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship. Other than in certain cases where other nationalities are involved, Catalan players are full Spanish citizens who are eligible to play for Spain and often do.

Since 1904, the team has played nearly 200 games against various national, regional and club teams. International friendly games have been played more regularly since 1997. Among the teams they have played are Nigeria, Brazil, and Argentina.

Interim Jamaica Reggae Boyz head coach Paul Hall has named a 23-man squad for the upcoming international friendly against Peru in Lima on January 20.

“The date of the game does not fall within the FIFA window so none of the Europe and Central America based players were called,” the JFF stated in a release today.

Hall is using this game as an opportunity to assess players that are unfamiliar to him and as such, has left out regular members of the squad like captain Andre Blake, Oneil Fisher and Alvas Powell.

All the players, including those not called on this occasion, have made themselves available and are committed to being ready for the three World Cup qualifying games from January 27 to February 2.

 The 23-man squad for those games will assemble in Jamaica on January 24^th while the squad for the Peru game will assemble in Jamaica on January 13^th.

The full squad is as follows: Dwayne Miller, Jeadine White, Amal Knight, Damion Lowe, Richard King, Jamoi Topey, Javain Brown, Kemar Lawrence, Je-Vaughn Watson, Kevon Lambert, Tevin Shaw, Ramone Howell, Devon Williams, Peter-Lee Vassell, Lamar Walker, Alex Marshall, Dwayne Atkinson, Deshane Beckford, Kaheem Parris, Devonte Campbell, Jourdain Fletcher, Cory Burke, Oquassa Chong.