Team face the play-offs now! National coach resigns after final whistle | OneFootball

Few would have expected it to end this way: Jamaica only drew against Curacao in the World Cup qualification and now has to go into the playoffs.

A fate that Jamaica's national coach Steve McClaren has experienced before. Eighteen years ago, he resigned as England's national coach after the English team failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship. Now Jamaica could face a similar fate. But the 64-year-old does not want to witness that.

As he announced directly after the game at the press conference, he will step down as Jamaica's national coach after 18 months. "In the past 18 months, I have invested everything into this task," he said. "Leading this team has been one of the greatest honors of my career."

He emphasized that it is the responsibility of the coach to lead and "make decisions in the best interest of the team." He realized that new energy and a different perspective were needed to move the team forward.

Therefore, "after intense reflection and an honest assessment of where we stand and where we need to go," he decided to resign as head coach of the Jamaican national team.

In the intercontinental playoffs, Jamaica will now compete with Suriname, Bolivia, Congo, New Caledonia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq for the last World Cup tickets.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 RICARDO MAKYN