Blake's groin strands him on 98 Jamaica caps and calls in a teen from USL League One

Andre Blake needed two appearances this month to become only the eighth player to reach 100 caps for Jamaica, and the November window had exactly two games, both against Mexico. A groin injury from the Philadelphia Union's 4-1 win over Toronto FC on Saturday has taken both away, and the goalkeeper replacing him in camp is a 19-year-old who plays in the third tier of American soccer.

The Union's own release when Blake was called up laid out the math: 98 appearances and 33 clean sheets for the Reggae Boyz, the most recent a shutout of El Salvador in the Nations League on Oct. 2, and "with two appearances during the upcoming window, Blake would become the eighth player in Jamaica history to reach 100 international appearances."

Those two games are the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal against Mexico, at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m. ET and in Monterrey on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 9:30 p.m. ET. Blake came off at halftime against Toronto, with Andrew Rick replacing him, and Union coach Ryan Richter said he felt discomfort while kicking. Richter also said it wasn't "super serious," according to the Jamaica Observer. Serious or not, it was enough to rule him out of the tie.

The Observer reports Blake has played every minute of Jamaica's last 10 competitive games. At 35, the 100th cap isn't gone, but it now waits for another window.

Joshua Grant is the call-up. FC Naples signed him in January for its second season in USL League One, and the club's release describes a goalkeeper born on May 27, 2007, from Lauderdale Hill, Florida, who came through the New York Red Bulls academy and spent 2025 with Red Bulls II in MLS NEXT Pro. He holds U.S. and Jamaican nationality, has played for Jamaica at under-17 and under-20 level, and earned his first senior call-up in January 2025 for two friendlies against Trinidad and Tobago. The Observer says he started for the under-20 side that missed out on the World Cup in August.

Grant is unlikely to start against Mexico. The Observer expects Jahmali Waite of the Tampa Bay Rowdies to step in, as he did for two games in the final round of 2025 World Cup qualifying and at the 2024 Copa América, with Amal Knight, Blake's backup in the four Nations League group games this fall, pushing him. For two keepers who have spent years behind Blake, this is thier best chance at a stretch of meaningful games.

Interim coach Rudolph Speid had little margin before Blake went down. When he named the squad on Nov. 7, he left out Wrexham's Bailey Cadamarteri so he could get club minutes, lost Rumarn Burrell and Ephron Mason-Clark to injury, and passed on Leon Bailey, Ian Fray and Di'Shon Bernard because of fitness doubts. "For a playoff game, you have to be sure of every single person that you put in that squad, because we only have 23," Speid told the Jamaica Gleaner. "Mexico is no joke."

Since then, winger Tyreece Campbell and midfielder Kevon Lambert have also been ruled out after club knocks, with Mount Pleasant forward Daniel Green replacing Campbell. The stakes go past a semifinal spot, too: according to the Gleaner, the winners qualify directly for the 2027 Gold Cup, while the losers drop into the preliminary round.

There is a Philadelphia side to this as well. Instead of two high-intensity games and a trip to Monterrey, Blake gets the international break to heal before the Union's best-of-three first-round series, which Cavan Sullivan's goals on Decision Day secured. Jamaica lose their captain for the biggest tie of their fall, and the Union get their No. 1 rested for the start of the playoffs. The milestone will have to wait.