Young Boyz look to seal deal against T&T in decisive game
By Sean Williams (Jamaica Observer)
With Trinidad and Tobago’s inspired fightback from 0-2 down to eventually defeat Bermuda 3-2 at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Sunday night, it would make perfect sense for Jamaica to sit up and take stock.
In the final set of matches in Group A of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-17 Finals slated for today, Jamaica’s Young Reggae Boyz meet hosts Trinidad and Tobago in a decisive contest at 7:30 pm (6:30 pm Jamaica time).
In the other contest, Haiti open the double bill at the Ato Boldon Stadium against eliminated Bermuda at 5:00 pm (4:00 pm Jamaica time).
A draw for Jamaica (four points) and Haiti (four) will see them moving into the semi-finals on Friday and a place in the CONCACAF Championship set for Panama City next year.
rinidad have three points and Bermuda are yet to get off the mark.
Jamaica’s Young Boyz had defeated Bermuda in their opening game 6-2.
Having opened their account in a demoralising 0-2 loss to pesky Haiti on Friday, the Young Soca Warriors, spurred on by their home support, bounced back on Sunday to reignite their fading campaign, demonstrating fight and determination, characteristics Jamaica need to watch out for.
With that sensational win, Trinidad will no doubt go into today’s game with their tails in the air, confident that they can deliver another show-stopper.
In the other game of the night on Sunday, Jamaica and Haiti slugged it out for a 0-0 result, an encounter that left a number of players on both sides banged up. Of the casualties of war, Haiti seemed to have suffered the greatest loss.
Apart from losing Iverson Basquin to the red card route, they were forced to replace midfielder Marc-Michel Martine, who suffered a broken nose and had to be treated at hospital in Port of Spain, Trinidad’s capital.
But the Young Boyz coach Andrew Edwards, though showing faith in his players to come out victorious today, is aware of the potential danger.
“The situation for us is very dangerous as we know a point is good enough to take us to the semi-finals and the CONCACAF stage, but for Trinidad they need to win to be certain and that makes it very dangerous because they are desperate,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
“It’s going to be a challenge, we know, as we expect those parts of the stadium that will be open to be filled. It showed in the game yesterday (Sunday) that they have fighting spirit, however, I believe that our quality is much better and that our game is superior,” Edwards said.
The Jamaica boss appeared confident that once his team plays to plan, victory should be on the cards.
“I think if we play well and play to our plan, we should come away with a victory and a comfortable one at that. But at the end of the day football is played on the field and we don’t know how the boys are going to react to a full and vociferous stadium,” Edwards explained.
In an early morning training session yesterday at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, the players were taken through rigorous tactical drills that were aimed at mimicking real match situations.
Edwards was pleased the players soaked it all up and now hopes that they will be able to execute come match day.
“I think we have worked our plan in training this morning (yesterday), so it’s just about executing come game time.
“I think the session went really well; you are never going to get perfection, but what’s important is that the players have the basic ideas down of what we are trying to do and I thought they responded very well to that,” noted Edwards.
In yesterday’s training session, three players — Kaheem Parris, Nickque Daley and Cobi Atkinson — were rested with niggling knocks sustained in the Haiti bruiser.
While those three are expected to recover fully for the match, the towering and languid central defender Jamoi Topey.