‘Fans played a BIG PART’
Former Reggae Boy Dixon notes 12th man’s importance to World Cup qualification
FORMER NATIONAL central defender and captain, Linval Dixon, has emphasised the importance of home support for Jamaica’s upcoming World Cup qualifier against the United States, with the fan return falling on the anniversary of Jamaica’s greatest footballing achievement.
The National Stadium will welcome a maximum of 5,000 fully vaccinated fans to the game on November 16, the 23rd anniversary of the Reggae Boyz qualifying for the 1998 France World Cup. In this Qatar 2022 qualifying, Jamaica played their previous two home games behind closed doors.
As part of that 1998 class, Dixon emphasised how important the home support meant to the team in their campaign, which saw them go undefeated at ‘The Office’.
DRIVE AND DETERMINATION
“The fans played a big part in that leading up to the World Cup qualifiers and, of course, the fans always pushed us, gave us that drive and to always go there to give our best effort every time for the fans,” Dixon told The Sunday Gleaner. “We always want to look in the stands and see our supporters there, cheering, rooting for us. So it gives us a buzz, it gave us that drive and determination to go out and win games.”
It is that backing that Dixon recalled, saying it helped them the most in the early stages of the Final Round qualifiers, especially coming off of three straight road games, which resulted in a draw to Canada and defeats to Mexico and Costa Rica, respectively.
“Coming back home for our next game against El Salvador, there weren’t many fans there but those few pushed us and got us over the line and we won that game 1-0. So the fans always play an important role in our campaign,” said Dixon.
POSITIVE RESULT
It is the same opposition that the current generation of national players will have to battle in San Salvador on November 12. Dixon underlined the importance of a positive result to set the stage for the United States clash, given the slow start to their campaign.
“The players are aware of that. The coaching staff and management staff will let them know the importance of the next game. because we started on the backfoot so we have to get back in contention. So we have to prepare ourselves for everything because we know it can be tough down in El Salvador. But we have the players, it’s just for them to open their mind to go out there and put in the work and get the job done.”
While understanding how and why t he COVID-19 situation forced the home support to stay away, Dixon says that the fan return coinciding with the anniversary of their qualification will give the team motivation to mimic the achievements of their predecessors.
“That says a lot for us. And I know the team will rally through all the tough situations that they are going to face. That is really another plus for the players to do it for the country, do it for themselves and, of course, a reminder that we did it before and we can do it again,” Dixon said.