Sport

Young Boyz look to Mexico

By AINSLEY WALTERS, Staff Reporter

National Under-23 wing-back Garfield Reid (right foreground) works out with senior Reggae Boy Fabian Davis (left foreground) during practice yesterday at the UWI Bowl. The junior Boyz are preparing for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying final round which starts Monday in Mexico whereas the seniors are down to play Uruguay in a February 18 friendly inmternational at the National Stadium. - Ian Allen

ARMED WITH WHAT he has described as a strong side, boosted by the likes of strikers Nicholas Addlery and Tivoli Gardens' Christopher Nicholas, who was due in camp last night, national Under-23 coach Peter Cargill has high hopes heading into next week's final round of CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying.

The junior Boyz are due to jet out of the island this Saturday for Guadalajara, Mexico, where they'll first face Costa Rica on Monday and the hosts Thursday, hoping to clinch a spot in the playoff semis before tackling Trinidad and Tobago Saturday.

Cargill and technical director Carl Brown put the Under-23s through their paces at the UWI Bowl yesterday evening, matching up the juniors against a strong team of local-based senior Reggae Boyz.

Fine-tuning

"What we did today is what we'll be doing for most of the week," Cargill told STAR Sports. "We'll be fine-tuning, doing some technical work and maintaining condition. That'll be our focus, fine-tuning for the game on Monday," he added.

The junior Boyz recently returned from Caribbean and North American camps with the coaching staff appearing seemingly pleased heading into next week's rush for two tickets to Athens.

Jamaica closed out their South Florida camp Friday with a 3-0 win against the Florida International University (FIU) after going down 0-1 to the Canadian Under-23s, who were also in the region preparing for the CONCACAF finals.

Main hurdle

Cargill admitted Mexico, traditional CONCACAF kingpins, could be Jamaica's main hurdle in the preliminaries but said he's confident his strengthened squad will do better than the one which held the Central Americans to a 1-1 draw while crashing out of the 2002 CAC Games in El Salvador.

"No doubt, this is a stronger squad than the one which went to the CAC Games," he said, referring to a side which has now been bolstered with the likes of Shavar Thomas, Keith Kelly, in-form Nicholas and big Addlery, who has been all the rage in Trinidad and Tobago's professional league.

"We played them in El Salvador and drew 1-1 but the team has grown in experience," Cargill added, recounting the Games, which were used as extended preparations for Olympic qualifying by the Boyz, who had gone into the tournament with little international practice.

Confident

"We're confident in our ability and our expectation is to go to the full limit. I don't think people gave us a chance when we started out. We had no practice game before going up against Cuba but we did well and found our momentum against Guatemala," Cargill pointed out, referring to the Under-23s early round of qualifying when they were held to a 1-1 draw in Cuba before taking the return game 1-0 at home.

Against Guatemala last November, the Jamaicans went down 1-2 on the road but advanced 3-2 on aggregate, cushioned by a 2-0 first leg win at the National Stadium.

Eight teams have been split into two zones for the February 2-12 playoffs with Jamaica down to compete in Group B at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara.

Canada, Honduras, Panama and United States will contest Group A at the Estadio 3 de Marzo. The eight-team event will have six consecutive, first-round double-headers until Saturday, February 7.

The top two teams in each group then advance to the semi-finals on February 10 with Group A winners taking on Group B runners-up and Group B winners facing the runners-up from Group A.

The semi-final losers will meet in the third-place match on February 12, while the two finalists, who will meet on the same date, earn CONCACAF's automatic berths to the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Under-23s in training: Maurice Evans, Richard McCallum and Jacomenia Barrett, Shavar Thomas, Christopher Harvey, Wayne Ellis, Kavon Harris, Tyrone Sawyers, Keith Kelly, Fabian Dawkins, Nicholas Addlery, Damion Williams, Demar Phillips, Roland Dean, Khari Stephenson, Garfield Reid, Wolry Wolfe, Demar Phillips, Lenworth Hyde Jr., and Christopher Nicholas.