How Jamaica could look with the 11 English stars, including PL's Antonio

It's been offbeat and bold, but the Reggae Boyz are set to get the much-needed revamp they've been craving to shake up the CONCACAF.

Jamaica have rather cunningly dipped their hands into the English talent pool to bolster their squad and are set to add 11 fresh faces ahead of next year's World Cup after making an audacious attempt to persuade them to switch international allegiances.

The arrival of the English cavalry will no doubt be somewhat unsettling for CONCACAF powerhouses Mexico and the United States, particularly with the Gold Cup tournament and World Cup qualifiers around the corner.

Jamaica are scheduled to face Mexico and Costa Rica in their World Cup qualifiers in September and will have their hopes of booking their spot in Qatar elevated if they can get the English players on board before those matches, having only ever qualified for the competition on one occasion previously.

As it stands, as many as 11 players look likely to commit their international allegiance to Jamaica, including two Premier League players.

West Ham's Michail Antonio is the standout name and would form a potent-looking partnership up front with Andre Gray, who is also set to represent Jamaica once he is granted a passport.

The Watford striker is in the process of getting his Jamaican passport while Ethan Pinnock, Rolando Aarons, Kemar Roofe, Curtis Tilt, Jamal Lowe, Amari'i Bell and Kasey Palmer have also applied for theirs.

Reading defender Liam Moore has already got his passport while Antonio has confirmed his interest in representing Jamaica and is likely to have one requested in the coming weeks or months.

The West Ham forward initially turned down the chance to represent Jamaica in 2016 and was later called up to England squads by Sam Allardyce and Gareth Southgate but did not make his debut.

He is now expected to accept Jamaica's latest approach in a bid to play at the 2022 World Cup after being repeatedly snubbed for England game-time despite his boss David Moyes recently urging him not to give up on a Three Lions call-up following his impressive form this season.

Jamaica also remain hopeful they can secure Everton defender Mason Holgate, though the club has not yet responded to an approach from their Football Federation.

If the Reggae Boyz can get all the players they're after, their potential new-look team could feature two of the Championship's best centre-backs in Moore and Pinnock and an exciting forward line of Antonio, Gray and Rangers' Roofe.

Their midfield could also consist of all Championship players in Lowe, Palmer and Aarons.

The new arrivals could change the very face of Jamaica's team and provide them with renewed hope of achieving some success, which has been hard to come by with Mexico and the USA the dominant CONCACAF forces.

In the 20 years since the Gold Cup's inception, Mexico and the USA have only failed to win the tournament on one occasion, when Canada broke the mould to lift the trophy in 2000.

Jamaica have come close to Gold Cup glory in recent times, finishing runners-up in 2015 and 2017, but have frequently struggled to qualify for football's most prodigious international tournament, having only ever played at the 1998 World Cup.

USA contrastingly have featured in seven of the last eight World Cups while Mexico haven't failed to qualify since they were banned in 1990.

It will come as music to the ears of the Reggae Boyz though that the last time they qualified for the World Cup, back in 1998, it was under similar circumstances to what we're seeing now..

Then the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) had convinced seven English players, five of which played in the Premier League, to switch allegiance and although they failed to make it out of the group stages in France, they left with their heads held high and a precious victory over Japan.

24 years later, they are dreaming of a return to the grand stage once again after plucking more talent from the fringes of England.