Jamaica’s Prime Minister challenges CONCACAF

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC- Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller, has challenged CONCACAF to do everything in its power to lift football’s greatest prize, the FIFA World Cup.

Prime Minister Simpson Miller was addressing the inaugural CONCACAF Sports Summit currently underway in the Cayman Islands.

The Jamaican leader, who also holds the sport portfolio, told the summit that if bringing the ‘Holy Grail’ of football home is not a top priority then it should “pack up its kit and go home”.

“CONCACAF must dream to win and you must execute to win,” Simpson Miller told the forum held under the banner ‘Transformation through Partnership’.

“…and the governments (of the confederation) must plan with CONCACAF to win”.

The last time the World Cup came to CONCACAF was back in 1994 when Brazil were crowned champions.

Mexico is the only other CONCACAF member association to have hosted football’s biggest show, having done so in 1970 and 1986.

In front of a packed house at the Ritz Carlton in Grand Cayman, the Jamaica Prime Minister urged the CONCACAF to develop a spirit of heroes in order to achieve greatness.

“We just celebrated National Heroes Day in Jamaica, and in celebration of those who paid the ultimate price in fighting for our freedom, I urge CONCACAF to stand tall and be fearless like the heroes of Jamaica,” said Simpson Miller to rousing applause.

“I know that your president Jeffrey Webb will do whatever it takes to do it, and I urge my brothers and sisters in CONCACAF to move upwards and onwards”.

Leaders from the worlds of football, business and government are attending the summit and seeking to forge new partnerships to advance the game across North and Central America and the Caribbean.