Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer
Jamaica's Jevaughn Watson (left) heads the ball in a challenge with Portmore United's Tremaine Stewart during their goalless warm-up game at Brancourt, Clarendon, on Thursday. Watson is among the Reggae Boyz newcomers who will travel this morning to Canada for next Wednesday's World Cup qualifier, the first in the semi-final series.
THE Reggae Boyz are due to leave the island at 7 a.m. today for Canada, where they will open their semi-final round World Cup qualifying campaign against that country next Wednesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. Ja time).
They are due to touch down shortly after midday in Toronto, where they will be based for the important qualifying engagement in the four-nation group. Honduras and number-one-ranked Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Associations of Football team, Mexico, are the other contenders.
In recent weeks, the Jamaica Football Federation's technical director, René Simoes, has been preparing purely home-based players for this contest.
They drew 0-0 with El Salvador in one friendly international that was staged in the United States and only this week, they beat Waterhouse 5-1 and drew goalless with National Premier League champions Portmore United. Both matches were played at Brancourt in Clarendon.
Simoes noted that the inability to get the overseas-based players for extended training, so as to facilitate better understanding of his methods, contributed largely to his method of selection.
Good mix
For the Bahamas game, 18 overseas-based players were called up, but this time, Simoes has gone for 10. Additionally, he feels comfortable with the group.
"I think we have a good mix between the local players and the overseas players," Simoes said after the Portmore draw on Thursday. "I am very confident in them."
Competition in this phase will be based on a round-robin, home-and-away format, after which, the top two will move on to the final round, to be contested by six countries.
The semi-final round ends in November and for the finals, three countries are guaranteed automatic berth to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, while the fourth-place team will tackle the fifth-place country from CONMEBOL (South America), to decide another World Cup spot.
Jamaica advanced with a 13-0 aggregate from the second round after spanking The Bahamas 6-0 and 7-0 in the respective fixtures here. The Bahamas were forced to relinquish their home leg because FIFA deemed its stadium unfit for matches at this level.
SQUAD: Donovan Rickettes, Davion Thorpe, Evan Taylor, Obrian Woodbine, Jermaine Taylor, Keneil Moodie, Shawn Sawyers, Jermaine Hue, Rudolph Austin, JeVaughn Watson, Wolry Wolfe, Demar Stewart, Andy Williams, Demar Phillips, Omar Cummings, Deon Burton, Ricardo Gardner, Ian Goodison, Tyrone Marshall, Luton Shelton.
- Audley Boyd
