Michail Antonio and Other UK-Based Stars to Play in World Cup Qualifiers after Jamaica Avoids Red List

Michail Antonio and other UK-based stars to play in world cup qualifiers after Jamaica avoids red list. The premier league will allow Jamaican footballers who play in the UK to be involved in the upcoming world cup qualifiers. There were fears that Jamaican footballers would be prevented from travelling from the UK if Jamaica is listed as a red list country. The UK authorities have announced that Jamaica remains in the amber list.

This is good news for supporters of the Jamaica national team because they have been begging for the inclusion of UK-based superstars into the team. This means we are likely to see stars like Leon Bailey, Michail Antonio , Bobby Reid, Ethan Pinnock, Jamal Lowe, Ravel ‘’Raviniesta’’ Morrison and Liam Moore included. Michail Antonio recently committed his future to Jamaica and has officially completed his paperwork. Michail Antonio has been on red hot form for Westham this season; he is already on 4 goals and 3 assists after playing only three games. Let’s hope he continues is goal-scoring form for Jamaica. 

The fans will be licking their lips at the thought of Antonio receiving quality balls from Leon Bailey. This could be a deadly combination since Leon Bailey also performed well with 9 goals and 8 assists for Bayer Leverkusen last season. He recently completed a move from Bayer Leverkusen to Aston villa. 

Jamaica’s first test in the world cup qualifiers will be against a rejuvenated Mexico team which has recalled Raul Jimenez; their main star player. The Wolverhampton Wanderers star striker is coming back from a nasty head injury he sustained after clashing with Arsenal’s David Luiz. Mexico will host Jamaica in the Azteca stadium but there will be no fans in attendance. 

The premier league recently asserted that it would not allow its players to leave the UK if they were traveling to red list countries. This is a move that is aimed at reducing the spread of Covid 19. This move is also supported by other top leagues like Serie A, La Liga and the English EFL.

The English clubs are worried that their star players will miss many important matches because they are expected to quarantine for at least 10 days when they return. 

Jamaica has been lacking a lethal world class striker and Antonio could be the final piece of the jigsaw. It will be a big achievement for Antonio if he can lead Jamaica to a world cup because the country has not participated in the lucrative tournament since 1998. However, Antonio and the other UK-based players are likely to miss the first game and will only feature against Panama and Costa Rica.

Jamaica will open its campaign against Mexico on 2^nd September before facing off against Panama and Costa Rica on September 5th and 8th respectively.  

Jamaica had an impressive run in this year’s CONCAFCAF Gold Cup where they finished in the quarter finals. They put in a good performance but were narrowly knocked out by the eventual winners USA. Jamaica can qualify for the 2022 world cup if they finish among the top three teams in this eight-team tournament. The fourth team will have to play in an inter-confederation play-off to qualify for the world cup.

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