Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz saw their World Cup hopes dented following their 0-2 defeat away to Curacao on Friday night.

Jamaica started the day on top of the group with six points from two games, but have slipped to second spot as Curacao jumped to seven points while Trinidad and Tobago are third with four points following their 3-0 drubbing of the pointless Bermuda.

Only the group winner will qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup, but with three sets of games remaining, Jamaica are still very much in the hunt. But an away win against Curacao would have put them in an advantageous position.

However, that was not to be as the group is now wide open with Jamaica having two of the last three games at home against Bermuda and Curacao and a difficult away trip to Trinidad and Tobago.

Livano Comenencia opened the scoring for the home team in the 14^th minute after a quick start.

But Jamaica came into their own and had some good looks at goal, and just when the Reggae Boyz looked as though they would find the equalising goal, Keji Gorre popped up in minute 68 and sealed the victory for Curacao.

Defender Richard King thought he had pulled one back for Jamaica in the 90^th minute, but the goal was ruled out by VAR as another player was in an offside position.

It was their first win over Jamaica, but it was not entirely surprising, as they had acquired top Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, who guided a team with many players of Dutch background.

The Steve McClaren-coached Reggae Boyz looked short of ideas and lacked verve in turning in another uninspiring display as they slumped to their first defeat of the campaign.

The Reggae Boyz will have some soul-searching to do before they face Bermuda in Kingston next Tuesday, looking to rebound and get their campaign back on track.