KINGSTON, Ja­maica – The fu­ture has ar­rived for the Reg­gae Boyz, and its name is Sey­mour Reid. The 17-year-old sen­sa­tion, along­side In­ter Mi­a­mi’s Ian Fray, has of­fi­cial­ly joined the se­nior na­tion­al team camp, bring­ing a fresh jolt of en­er­gy and an­tic­i­pa­tion to Ja­maica’s 2026 World Cup qual­i­fy­ing cam­paign.

The two new in­vi­tees are look­ing for­ward to their po­ten­tial roles in the up­com­ing cru­cial qual­i­fiers, as the Boyz pre­pare to face Cu­raçao away on Fri­day be­fore re­turn­ing to a hero’s wel­come at home against Bermu­da.

For Reid, the call-up is the stuff of child­hood fan­ta­sy. The young strik­er, who re­cent­ly be­came the youngest Ja­maican ever to score in Ma­jor League Soc­cer, shat­ter­ing a record pre­vi­ous­ly held by Al­vas Pow­ell, is still pro­cess­ing the rapid as­cent.

“That news is just a dream come true, to be hon­est. At 17, se­nior na­tion­al team, it’s just dif­fer­ent, you know. These play­ers are here, the qual­i­ty that they have it’s just dif­fer­ent. It’s an amaz­ing feel­ing.”

Reid is no stranger to the na­tion­al set­up, hav­ing rep­re­sent­ed Ja­maica at the CON­CA­CAF U-17 Qual­i­fiers ear­li­er this year.

How­ev­er, this se­nior call-up ce­ments his sta­tus as a his­to­ry-mak­er, of­fi­cial­ly be­com­ing the first play­er born in 2008 to be sum­moned for the Reg­gae Boyz.

On the oth­er side of the camp is Ian Fray, a de­fend­er who is ac­cus­tomed to shar­ing a pitch with glob­al su­per­stars like Li­onel Mes­si at his club, In­ter Mi­a­mi.

Fray brings a dif­fer­ent kind of pedi­gree, one steeped in Ja­maican foot­ball lin­eage. His fa­ther, Michael Fray, and his sis­ter, Mar­lee Fray, have both worn the na­tion­al colours at the youth lev­el, mak­ing this a proud fam­i­ly af­fair.

Though he is yet to make his se­nior de­but, Fray is no stranger to the Na­tion­al Sta­di­um pitch, hav­ing played there with In­ter Mi­a­mi against Cav­a­lier SC in the CON­CA­CAF club cham­pi­onships. Now, he is fo­cused on in­te­grat­ing with the squad.

Re­flect­ing on his first train­ing ses­sion, Fray re­port­ed a smooth tran­si­tion. “My first prac­tice ses­sion went well, and I am gelling al­ready with the play­ers.”

Reid and Fray are ex­pect­ed to jet off with the Reg­gae Boyz on Wednes­day en route to Cu­ra­cao.

CMC