Leon moved to tears at first home game

Leon Bailey finally made his international senior football team debut for the Reggae Boyz in the team's opening Group C Gold Cup match against Honduras at the National Stadium on Monday night, and the Bayer Leverkusen winger said he has never felt this 'special' playing in front of family, friends, and the Jamaican public.

"At the beginning of the game I had a feeling I never had in my whole time of playing professional football. This was very special for me. To actually play in front of family, friends, and the whole nation," he said.

"I was born and raised here and everybody came out to support not just me but the team. Everybody was here to see Leon Bailey play because a lot of them have never seen me play, and it was a special feeling tonight. I am happy we got the three points.

"So it was very emotional because I grew up here in Jamaica and I have lived most of my life in Europe. So it's kind of different, with a lot of different cultures. I have to adopt to their culture but being here and being in front of my home crowd and my people was a very special moment. I actually had tears in my eyes, knowing that I am actually here and people came out to watch me and gave me just pure love which I appreciate," he added.

Bailey, who started and ended the game, helped The Boyz to a 3-2 win. He created the opening goal with a cheeky pass to Peter Lee Vassell, whose attempt was parried by the goalkeeper into the path of Dever Orgill, who headed home the opener.

The 21-year-old was busy and always a threat throughout the game, even though not at his tantalising best. He noted that he is just coming off a lengthy injury but is confident he will get better as the competition gets deeper.

"It wasn't my best performance. It was always going to be difficult playing my first game after weeks out. But I just wanted to be here for the people and the team. I am very confident (I can get better). I think we can win this Gold Cup, we just have to stay together and be there for each other," he continued.

Jamaica conceded two soft goals against Honduras on Monday and Bailey says that there are areas of their game that needs fine-tuning if they want to go all the way. "We have to focus from the very beginning and I think it is something we have work on. If we work on things like that, it would be good," he continued.

"The objective for tonight was to be there for the team and for the people of Jamaica. It was just about catching myself and coming back but for the other games I can push myself even more."