East out of Gold Cup due to injury

National striker Javon East will no longer play a role in the Reggae Boyz 2021 Gold Cup tournament.

According to a release from the Jamaica Football Federation yesterday, East, 26, suffered a grade two hamstring strain during training on July 3 and upon further examination, team doctor Bersha Cole advised that the player could not participate in training or in games. East will return to his Costa Rican club Santos de Guapiles for further medical treatment.

In response, Watford's Andre Gray has been called up to replace the injured East for the tournament. Gray made his international debut for Jamaica during their March 25 friendly against the United States and second his first international goal in his second game against Serbia last month. He was named originally to the 60-man provisional squad last month but was left off head coach Theodore Whitmore's final 23-man squad. He was expected to join the team late yesterday evening.

Meanwhile, midfielder Ravel Morrison has not yet received his US visa that will grant him approval to join his teammates for the tournament. According to the release, Morrison is providing additional documentation to the US Embassy and will be allowed to join the team when the process is finished.

As per Conacacaf rules, changes can be made to the final roster because of injury or other reasons at any time before the start of a team's first group match.

In Jamaica's case, they will begin their campaign against Suriname on Monday. With the Gold Cup preliminaries now complete, Jamaica will play Guadeloupe in their second group game on July 16 and finish the group state against Costa Rica on July 20. All matches will be played at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

Jamaica are looking for another deep run in the tournament, having made three straight semi-finals including back-to-back finals in 2015 and 2017.