In 1993, Jamaica finished in second place after losing on penalties to Martinique in the final of the Caribbean Cup, which was a qualifier for the CONCACAF Gold Cup which was held later that year. During this tournament, the team opened with a 1–0 loss to the US before recording their first Gold Cup win against Honduras. After qualifying in second place with a 1–1 draw against Honduras, Jamaica lost 6–1 to Mexico in the semi-final in Mexico City. After not qualifying for the final round of the 1994 Caribbean Cup despite recording its largest-ever win margin in a 12–0 win against the British Virgin Islands, the team decided to hire Brazilian René Simões to assist Brown with the goal of qualifying for the 1998 World Cup. After being eliminated in the group stage of both the 1995 Caribbean Cup by virtue of head-to-head and the 1996 Caribbean Cup, Jamaica opened its 1998 World Cup qualifiers with an 2–0 aggregate win over Suriname and defeated Barbados 3–0 in the following round. In 1997, Simões, by then promoted to head coach, scouted for players in England that had Jamaican heritage to join the national team. Paul Hall, Fitzroy Simpson, Deon Burton and Robbie Earle were all named in the squad due their heritage. After finishing winless in the first four games of the final qualifying round, Jamaica recorded three 1–0 wins over El Salvador, Canada, and Costa Rica, with Burton scoring the winning goal in each of the latter two matches. After a 0–0 draw against Mexico, Jamaica secured its qualification and made its first-ever World Cup appearance, and the following day was declared a national holiday.