Philadelphia Union announced today that goalkeeper Andre Blake has been called up to the Jamaican National Team for upcoming World Cup Qualifiers on Friday, Nov. 13, and Tuesday, Nov. 17. The Reggae Boyz are in Group B of CONCACAF’s Fourth Round of 2018 World Cup Qualification alongside Costa Rica, Haiti and Panama. Jamaica will host Panama on Friday and travel to Port-au-Prince for Haiti on Tuesday. Qualification will then take a break until March of 2016.
A second-year player out of the University of Connecticut, Blake has started six MLS matches as well as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final in 2015. He finished the year with a 2-3-1 record in MLS play with two shutouts and a 1.50 goals against average. After suffering two separate knee injuries earlier in the year, the No. 1 pick of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft has made an impact for the Union, including breaking the franchise’s single-game record for saves (with 10 against New England) and securing the Union’s first-ever win in Montreal by keeping a clean sheet over the Impact.
Blake’s Jamaican call-up will be his fourth this year alone. He was also a member of the Reggae Boyz for the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where Jamaica finished as runners-up. He was called up, and started, in September for World Cup Qualifiers against Honduras, and again, against South Korea in an international friendly in October. He’s made 11 career appearances on the senior team with his first coming on March 2, 2014 against Barbados where he kept a clean sheet during a 2-0 win. Blake also backboned the team to the 2014 CONCACAF Caribbean Cup championship where they defeated Trinidad and Tobago in the final.
