Reggae Boyz attacker Jamal Lowe is upbeat after his return to the squad ahead of Jamaica’s Concacaf Nations League semi-final against the USA at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas on March 21.

Lowe, 29, was last apart of the Reggae Boys setup for an international friendly against Jordan on June 19 last year where he was an unused substitute.

“Feels really good. It’s been a while since I’ve been involved in a camp so it’s nice to be back. It’s a great opportunity for me and for the team to go and create history. That would be amazing,” he said in an interview on Monday.

Currently on loan at Swansea City from AFC Bournemouth, Lowe was sidelined for a month earlier this season with a knee injury and says that is behind him now.

“Since I got injured I’ve been trying to get back to full fitness and hopefully I can bring some goals to the team. I’ve watched all the games in the build-up and it’s been unbelievable, the transformation that we’ve gone through. Just want to keep pushing us in the right direction,” Lowe said.

“Everyone’s working hard towards the same goal. It doesn’t matter who the eleven on the field is, everyone’s pushing towards the same ambition so it’s good,” he added.

Lowe has scored seven goals and registered two assists in 27 games for Swansea in the EFL Championship so far this season.

“Swansea’s been good. It’s given me an opportunity to play real minutes and it’s a familiar place. The new manager’s come in and showed trust and belief in me,” he said.

He has two goals in four appearances for the Reggae Boyz.

You can watch the Concacaf Nations League semi-finals live on SportsMax on March 21.

 

 

 

 

Luke Williams believed Swansea produced the “most complete performance” of his tenure so far as they claimed a 2-0 Championship victory over derby rivals Cardiff.

Liam Cullen put Swansea ahead in the 34th minute before missing a penalty six minutes into the second half.

But Jamal Lowe bagged his seventh goal of the season – in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage-time – to cap off a fine win for the Swans, who ended the Bluebirds’ four-game winning streak.

It was Swansea’s fifth win from six matches against Cardiff and went some way to avenging their 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture last September.

“We won in a really positive way, I can’t argue with the way we went about it today,” said the Swansea boss.

“I think the combination of intensity and aggression combined with calmness and clarity is something we’re all striving for.

“I think it’s fair to say we’ve seen one or the other in recent performances or we’ve seen periods where we’ve done both well.

“But today felt like the most complete performance so far.

“It’s unrealistic for us to expect to not have any pressure (against us), but we were very dominant for the majority of the game and the big chances in the game, we created all of them.”

Meanwhile, opposite number Erol Bulut admitted some of his players went “hiding” as Cardiff failed to cope with the hosts’ intensity in the first-half.

The Bluebirds failed to register a single shot on target in the opening 45 and – on the whole – flattered to deceive as they missed out on securing a first-ever league double over the Swans.

And Bulut was less than impressed with the way his players started the contest at the Swansea.com Stadium.

“With the pressing Swansea made against us, we had to keep the ball in midfield, but we didn’t ask for the ball in midfield, we were hiding too much in the midfield,” he said.

“If you are hiding, you cannot get out of the press. You have to ask for the ball, this was not there in the first half.

“That’s why in the second half I made the changes, bringing two players in and we managed it a little bit better and the rest who came in, I think it was quite good.

“We will not put our heads down and make big trouble of this because we lost.

“When we see the last weeks, how we worked and how we came back when we’ve been on the bottom, we will be back again.

“We still have eight games to play, we have the international break, we will rest well, train well and come back strong again.”

Swansea were dealt a blow as Ben Cabango missed out with a calf injury and is now poised to be unavailable for Wales’ Euro 2024 play-off campaign.

Cabango’s fellow defender Kyle Naughton was withdrawn during the derby due to a hamstring issue, with Williams stating the injury “doesn’t look good”.

Swansea claimed the south Wales derby bragging rights with a 2-0 win over Cardiff.

Liam Cullen volleyed beyond Ethan Horvath – his sixth goal of the season – after 34 minutes in what was a dominant first-half showing from Swansea.

Cullen then missed a penalty in the 51st minute as Cardiff improved in the second half, but Jamal Lowe struck in injury-time to earn Luke Williams’ men all three points.

It ensured the Swans earned back-to-back home wins for the first time under Williams, while defeat ended Cardiff’s four-game winning run.

The Swans clearly meant business as they sought to avenge their 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture – with Harry Darling and Cullen having decent efforts early on.

Cardiff looked nervy and almost fell behind in the 16th minute when Jamie Paterson’s lofted cross found Darling unmarked, although the centre-back’s header crashed off the crossbar.

The hosts were left incensed moments later when Yakou Meite escaped a red card for pushing his head into the face of Darling.

The Bluebirds eventually showed signs of settling and saw Dimitrios Goutas poke wide from a David Turnbull corner.

But Swansea got the breakthrough their efforts warranted just after the half-hour mark following sublime work from January signing Ronald.

The Brazilian winger lifted the ball over Josh Wilson-Esbrand before darting 40 yards upfield and laying off to Kyle Naughton.

The experienced defender’s floated delivery found Cullen, who coolly volleyed beyond Horvath at the back post to send the home fans into raptures.

Ronald himself then rifled over as the Swans looked for a second, and Erol Bulut will no doubt have been pleased to reach half-time with his side only a goal down.

The Cardiff boss sent Rubin Colwill and Callum O’Dowda on for Turnbull and Meite, although they made a disastrous start to the second-half as Perry Ng conceded a penalty for dragging down Ronald.

However, first-half goal hero Cullen could only fire the spot-kick wide to give Cardiff hope.

The miss certainly lifted Cardiff’s spirits, with Nat Phillips heading at Carl Rushworth before Colwill lashed over as the visitors finally threatened.

Bulut’s men enjoyed more periods in possession as Ollie Tanner and Josh Key replaced Josh Bowler and Naughton respectively.

Ronald – now on the left flank – continued to show his quality though and beautifully picked out Cullen who headed wide.

Ollie Cooper, Lowe and Jay Fulton were all summoned from the bench, while Wales star Aaron Ramsey returned after a month on the sidelines with 19 minutes left on the clock.

The final stages were cagey as Horvath comfortably gathered Matt Grimes’ free-kick before Goutas headed over at the other end.

But Lowe rounded Horvath before drilling into the net in the sixth minute of added time as Swansea clinched a third successive home win over their neighbours, who lost ground in the race for a Sky Bet Championship play-off spot.

Swansea boss Michael Duff hailed his side’s 3-0 Championship win over Millwall as the best of his tenure as they secured a commanding victory at the Den.

Jamaican International Jamal Lowe opened the scoring with a penalty before goals from Matt Grimes and Mykola Kukharevych sealed the triumph, Duff’s third in charge since taking over in June.

The visitors won their second Championship game in a row having taken only two points from a possible 21 from their previous seven matches.

“It’s probably the best result of my Swansea tenure so far,” Duff said. “3-0 away from home at a tough place to come.

“I thought we saw a bit more of what we wanted to look like. It was some really good football. The reaction’s been good ever since the Cardiff game, where we let everyone down.

“We probably should have had three clean sheets and nine points since then. The players have stuck together through all of it.”

Swansea sparked to life in the 23rd minute when Lowe converted a penalty, awarded after Jerry Yates’ shirt was pulled by Jake Cooper in the box.

Lowe produced a stuttering run-up before sending Bartosz Bialkowski the wrong way to end the hosts’ hopes of a third-straight clean sheet and to notch his second goal in as many games.

Duff added: “The first goal was 40-plus passes going into the build-up to the penalty, which I think should have been a red card as well.

“I knew they would have a reaction. We had to change shape a couple of times, but we survived it. You’re not going to dominate a game for 90 minutes, not in the Championship – very rarely anyway.

“It’s still a long, long way from where we want to get it to.”

Grimes moved Swansea further ahead after 57 minutes, as some neat interplay offered an inviting opening for the skipper and his 20-yard strike squeezed under Bialkowski.

The Lions were unable to take their chances at 2-0 down with Carl Rushworth turning a long-distance strike from Ryan Leonard over the crossbar before the goalkeeper saved Kevin Nisbet’s point-blank effort with his face.

Kukharevych then made certain of the three points for the Swans with an 80th-minute header for a first away victory since April.

Millwall manager Gary Rowett took a different view of his side’s reaction to conceding, believing they showed frustration rather than fight.

He said: “Goals change moods, goals change feelings in stadiums and players’ confidence levels. It shouldn’t do, but that’s the way the game is.

“Sometimes at 0-0 you have to ride those little moments and the first goal was a really poor penalty to give away from where the ball was.

“We got into some decent positions without having a clinical edge. That was the difference.

“I didn’t like our reaction from 2-0 down. I think we have a habit of conceding goals and showing our frustration rather than fighting until the last second.

“Again we had some big moments, but without that goal it gives you nothing to lift the mood and atmosphere.

“It’s disappointing. The third goal summed it up, we gave it away, crossed it to a lad unmarked to head it in. It was certainly three poor goals from us to concede today.”

Aston Villa forward Leon Bailey and Spartak Moscow striker Shamar Nicholson headline a 23-man squad named by the Jamaica Football Federation on Monday for the CONCACAF Nations League fixture between the Reggae Boyz and Mexico at the Azteca on March 26.

Bailey and Nicholson are two of a number of players who were not apart of the squad for the two friendlies against the Soca Warriors in Jamaica last week.

Defenders Damion Lowe, Amari’i Bell and Kemar Lawrence are also among those who have returned to the squad while regular skipper Andre Blake remains absent through injury.

The match will commence at 7:00pm JA time (8:00pm ET).

The full squad is as follows: Goalkeepers: Jahmali Waite (Pittsburgh Riverhounds), Coniah Boyce-Clarke (Reading), Amal Knight (Lexington), Defenders: Amari’i Bell (Luton Town), Ethan Pinnock (Brentford), Dexter Lembikisa (Wolves), Adrian Mariappa (Unattached), Damion Lowe (Philadelphia Union), Richard King (Cavalier), Javain Brown (Vancouver Whitecaps), Kemar Lawrence (Minnesota United), Midfielders: Jonathan Russell (Barnsley), Bobby Reid (Fulham), Demario Phillips (Mt. Pleasant), Kevon Lambert (Phoenix Rising), Daniel Johnson (Preston North End), Ravel Morrison (DC United), Kaheem Parris (Dynamo Kyiv), Forwards: Jamal Lowe (Bournemouth), Cory Burke (NY Red Bulls), Trivante Stewart (Mt. Pleasant), Shamar Nicholson (Spartak Moscow), Leon Bailey (Aston Villa)

 

 Jamaica and Bournemouth forward Jamal Lowe believes a convincing defeat over Everton, in the third round of the EFL Cup earlier this week, should give the team a psychological advantage heading into Saturday’s Premier League rematch.

On Tuesday, Lowe scored the first of 4 goals in a 4-1 demolition of the Toffees at Vitality Stadium and is feeling confident with the teams set up for a quick repeat of the fixture in league competition.  With both teams struggling just above the relegation zone and Bournemouth winless in their last 5 games Lowe is eager to drive home any possible advantage.

"I think it will give us a slight physiological edge on Everton, I feel like they'll have a little bit of doubt in their mind, and we'll go into the game confidently,” Lowe said of the upcoming fixture.

The 26-year-old has made just one appearance, from the bench, so far this Premier League season but could be in contention for Saturday’s matchday squad after a creditable performance on Tuesday.

“I think it shows how hard we work during the week that players who haven't played that much were able to put out a performance like that today (Tuesday)."

 

Jamaica international and Swansea forward, Jamal Lowe, believes an end to the ability to be completely anonymous on social media platforms could go a long way in helping to combat racism online and hate speech.

The 26-year-old player found himself the target of racist online abuse following the team’s loss to Birmingham City last weekend.  The forward was the third Swansea player since February to suffer the issue.

In response, Swansea announced that the club would boycott any social media-related activities for two weeks.  They were joined in the effort by Scottish club Rangers.  The player hopes the effort will at least bring more attention to the issue or push social media platforms towards a response.

The issue of the right to online anonymity has provoked fierce debate since the early days of the internet.  At current, individuals are not required to provide identification in order to sign up for accounts, Lowe believes that could part of the issue.

“At the moment, no one knows who is abusing any of us,” Lowe told Sky Sports.

“You’ve got an Instagram account, or a Twitter account or whatever when you sign up, put your email address in, put your national insurance number in or your passport number in, your driver’s license number, something that can identify you as a person,” he added.

“Something that can be linked back to who you really are and not just a page you created in five minutes, send some abuse and delete it because that’s a never-ending story.”

 

English Football League (EFL) club Swansea has called for social media companies to do more to combat racial abuse on their platforms after Jamaica international Jamal Lowe was abused on Instagram following defeat at Birmingham City on Friday night.

Lowe posted the now removed message to his personal page, with the caption “some serious idiots out there.”  The issue of players being abused online has again come to the fore in recent weeks with legendary Arsenal forward Thierry Henry quitting social media to highlight the issue.  

Lowe was the third Swansea player, since February, to be subjected to racist abuse on social media.

"This is the third time in space of seven weeks where one of our players has been subjected to such abhorrent messages, and we continue to call on social media companies to go above and beyond to eradicate this appalling level of behaviour from their platforms," a Swansea spokesperson said.

"Jamal has the full and unwavering support of everyone at the football club,” he added.

Lowe, 26, has scored nine goals in 41 Swansea appearances since joining the Welsh club from Wigan in August 2020.  The player also recently scored on debut for Jamaica in a 4-1 loss to the United States in Austria.

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