Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will be hunting a spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup when they play DR Congo today at 4:00 pm in the last Path A Playoff match at Guadalajara Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Jamaica are seeking to book a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for only the second time in its history, having last qualified 28 years ago for the World Cup in France in 1998.

The Democratic Republic of Congo are trying to make a return for the first time in 52 years, having last played in the World Cup at Germany 1974, when it was known as Zaire.

Jamaica, having lost out to Curacao in CONCACAF World Cup qualification, were thrown into the FIFA Confederation Playoffs and defeated New Caledonia 1-0 last Thursday courtesy of a Bailey Cadamarteri goal in the 18^th minute.

This is one of the biggest games in Jamaica’s history, not just for qualification but for the amount of money earned to qualify, which is US$10.5 million or J$1.6 billion expected in the Jamaica Football Federation’s coffers.

Jamaica is seeking to qualify for its second FIFA World Cup, following its appearance in 1998. If successful, it will mark the third-longest gap between appearances among Concacaf teams (28 years), tying Honduras (28 years between 1982 and 2010) and trailing only Canada (36 years, 1986 –2022) and the United States (40 years, between 1950 and 1990), counting only those countries with at least two appearances in the tournament.

An interesting piece of information is that if Jamaica qualify then Damion Lowe could qualify for his first World Cup, a feat his father, Onandi, achieved in 1998. If he achieves this and makes the squad this summer, it will be the 28th father-son duo at a World Cup and the fifth in Concacaf: Luis and Mario Perez, Javier Hernandez and his namesake son for Mexico, Alexandre Guimaraes and Celso Borges for Costa Rica, Claudio and Giovanni Reyna for the USA and Marti Vantolra for Spain, while his son José did so for Mexico.

DR Congo is coming off a run in the Africa Cup of Nations, where they were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Algeria.

They will be hard to beat and a very difficult opponent for Jamaica. Only two of the 26 players called up by the DR Congo for this intercontinental playoff do not play for European clubs, both of whom are forwards: Simon Banza (Al Jazira) and Fiston Mayele (Pyramids).

The rest are spread across the English Premier League or Championship (6), French Ligue 1 (5), Spanish La Liga and La Liga 2 (4), Greek First Division (2), Belgian First Division (2), Turkish SüperLig (1), Russian Premier League (1), the Polish Ekstraklasa (1), the Armenian First Division (1) and the Scottish Premiership (1).

They are a strong team, and Jamaica, which had not been playing well, have their hands full, but it is not beyond them to get it right at the most appropriate time, which is today.