Jamaica’s push for World Cup qualification suffered a major setback on Friday night after a shock 2–0 defeat to Curaçao in their Concacaf Final Round Group B encounter at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad.

The hosts struck early through Livano Comenencia, whose 14th-minute strike from outside the area beat goalkeeper Andre Blake to give Curacao a 1–0 lead.

The Reggae Boyz nearly found a response just before the break when Jon Russell’s goal-bound effort was cleared off the line by the Curaçao defence in the 45th minute.

Jamaica pressed for an equalizer after the interval, with Renaldo Cephas forcing a strong save from goalkeeper Eloy Room in the 56th minute. But the home side punished the visitors on the counter, as Kenji Gorré finished superbly into the top right corner from the left side of the box in the 68th minute to double the advantage and effectively seal the result.

There was late drama when Jamaica thought they had pulled one back in stoppage time through defender Richard King, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR review.

The defeat marked Jamaica’s first loss of the qualifying campaign and saw them slip to second in the group on six points. Curacao now move to the top with seven points, while Trinidad and Tobago sit third on four points following their 3–0 win over Bermuda.

Both teams return to action on Tuesday — Curaçao will host Trinidad and Tobago, while Jamaica will aim to rebound when they welcome Bermuda to Kingston.