By Nodley Wright, Staff ReporterA DEFIANT Jamaica Under-20 team will leave the island this morning for Port-Au-Prince, Haiti for their crucial second leg World Cup qualifier this Sunday.
Only a margin of victory by two clear goals can rescue Jamaica who surrendered 1-2 at home in the first leg two weeks ago. Subsequently the feeling among supporters is one of resignation to defeat, but the coaching staff is having none of it.
"We are very confident that we can do the job that is required for us to progress to the next round," technical director Peter Cargill told the Gleaner yesterday after their final training session.
"We have been written off but that is not strange. I know that if we were 2-1 up then it would have been different as we would have had more support from the Jamaican public. What is important is that we will do our best. We will give 100 per cent," he said.
Cargill is buoyed by the full availability of two overseas-based players: Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Keith Kelly and Bolton Wanderers forward Cleveland Taylor.
Kelly arrived in the wee hours of the morning before the first leg and only played in the second half of the game while Taylor had not yet received his Jamaican passport.
Cargill also disclosed that they almost had a third overseas-based player Jamal Campbell-Ryce join them for the game. "Everything was working out until the last minute where a clash of dates emerged as he had important games to play for his club.
The 19-year-old winger is attached to Charlton Athletic Football club but is midway through a three-month loan spell with Third Division club Leyton Orient. A report on his club's website confirmed that the player was invited.
"It was a very proud moment for me to be called into the Jamaica U20 squad. I do qualify to play for England but both of my parents are Jamaicans and it has always been my dream to play for them one day," he was quoted as saying.
Jamaica's game with Haiti the report said would not provide Campbell-Ryce with enough time to travel back to England for a third round Worthington Cup clash with Birmingham City on October 2nd.
Campbell-Ryce said: "I would love to play in the game under normal circumstances, but our match against Birmingham has been chosen as a live Sky game, and it's a tremendous opportunity for me to play against a Premiership side.
"Leyton Orient have given me the chance to play regular football and I feel I owe it to them to play in the Worthington Cup. We'll have to see what happens with Jamaica in the future."
Squad: Allien Whittaker, Richard McCallum, Sheldon Battiste, Alex Thomas, Leon Williams, Kieron Bernard, Oneil Thompson, Dane Richards, Omar Brissett, Christopher McCrae, Sean Fraser, Keith Kelly, Sheldon Palmer, Kemar Petrekin, Cleveland Taylor, Ryan Maxwell, Carlington Smith and Richard West.
