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Bailey out for three weeks
September 24, 2021
Jamaica will be forced to continue their World Cup qualifying campaign without the services of national winger Leon Bailey.
The Aston Villa midfielder has been officially ruled out for at least the next three weeks because of a thigh strain suffered in their 3-0 win over Everton last Saturday. Bailey, 24 scored his first English Premier League (EPL) goal during the game as a second-half substitute. However, he lasted only 21 minutes before coming off the field with the winger saying in his post-game interview that the injury came from the goal that he scored which saw Aston Villa go to 10th place in the league table.
The Everton game was Bailey's second appearance for Aston Villa since returning from a hamstring injury two weeks ago. The strain caused him to miss two games before the September window. The injury also resulted in him missing Jamaica's first three qualifying matches earlier this month.
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith said that while they are hopeful that he will be able to return to action as early as October 16, they will be monitoring the situation to see where he is leading up to their first game after the October window.
International break
"Leon has a strain which is likely to keep him out until after the international break. We would be hopeful that he would be available for the Wolves game but we will need to assess him nearer the time and see how he progresses over the next 10 days or so," Smith said.
This means that Bailey will be unavailable for Jamaica's next set of World Cup qualifiers against The United States on October 7, Canada on October 10 and Honduras on October 13.
The Reggae Boyz all already facing injury concerns as striker Shamar Nicholson suffered a broken jaw while in action for his Belgian club Charelori on September 18, in a 1-0 defeat to reigning champions Club Brugge. Nicholson underwent surgery yesterday to correct the issue and in an interview with The Gleaner on Wednesday said that he should be good to go for Jamaica's next set of qualifying matches.
Head coach Theodore Whitmore recently underlined Bailey's importance to Jamaica's cause and had revealed that the player was named to the final roster for the upcoming games.
