Bailey promises Gold Cup participation
JAMAICA SENIOR men’s football team winger Leon Bailey says he will be fit and ready for the start of the Concacaf Gold Cup in July.
Bailey, who broke his toe in Bayer Leverkusen’s goalless draw with Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga on May 8, is due to miss the rest of the season.
Reports are that he sustained the injury early in the match and played up to half-time before being substituted.
Jamaica Football Federation team manager Roy Simpson says he was initially concerned that Bailey’s injury could make him doubtful for the Gold Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September.
A HUNDRED PER CENT READY
But Simpson says those fears were allayed in a message from Bailey, who says he will be a hundred per cent ready in six weeks.
“He said he looks forward to joining the squad for the Gold Cup and qualifiers and that he likes the squad for the upcoming international friendly games,” Simpson told The Sunday Gleaner. “But he will be ready in the next six weeks and will be a hundred per cent. So he will be fit and ready for the Gold Cup.”
Bailey, who was also not called to the Reggae Boyz squad for their three international friendlies in Japan next month due to a contractual issue, has nine goals and nine assists in the Bundesliga this season, with three goals and two assists coming in his last four outings.
Simpson admitted that losing Bailey and any other player due to injury at this time would be very concerning for the technical staff.
“The fact that he has a expressed an amount of confidence in him being ready for the Gold Cup, that is a good sign,” Simpson said. “We have the Gold Cup and the World Cup qualifiers coming up and we hoped it was not an injury that would keep him out for too long as he was in superb form and we want Leon to be ready at all times to play for us.”