Ricketts working on plan to get WC campaign under way

Michael Ricketts, the president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), says his administration is going back to the drawing board to find a way to kick-start Jamaica's preparation for the final stage of the World Cup qualifiers.

This as a spike in coronavirus cases in the region forces them to abort the October international date window.

"We now have to take a second look at what plan B will be. We do not have the resources that European countries have, and, therefore, we are not able to have friendlies in this time, but we have to work out a way to move forward," Ricketts explained.

In a press release, the federation said on Sunday that it has decided to forgo two friendly internationals which were being negotiated to be played in October.

According to the release, Jamaica was in negotiations to play the United States and a top Central American team in the USA, but the continued rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has forced the postponement of both games, for health and safety reasons.

"We regrettably had to cancel the October window because of what is happening with the spike of the coronavirus cases. There were three games that we were pursuing for the October window. We will try for the November window; hopefully, things will be a little better," Ricketts said.

The JFF boss is still hoping that even a part of the squad that the technical team was trying to assemble will be able to come together for training next month.

"What we will do is try to get our locally based players together and see what we can do there. But it doesn't make any sense to bring the overseas players, because the effect probably could be devastating. But this goes to show where the JFF stands on COVID. We are not taking it lightly," Ricketts said.