U17 Reggae Boyz press on despite preparation woes

Head coach of Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Boyz, Altimont ‘Freddie’ Butler, has admitted that the team’s preparations for next month’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Qatar have not gone as planned, but says they are doing everything possible to be ready for the tournament.

Jamaica have been drawn in Group E alongside Italy, Cote d’Ivoire and Uzbekistan at the championships. The young Reggae Boyz will be making their third appearance at an Under-17 World Cup after topping their group in the Concacaf qualifying tournament in Alajuela, Costa Rica, in February.

Butler said the team has yet to play a friendly international since qualifying and have instead been using practice matches against Jamaica Premier League clubs to sharpen their preparations. Their latest outing ended in a 2-1 defeat to Waterhouse at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium on Thursday.

“With the preparations, we have been trying our best because, as you know, we qualified in February and we have yet to play one friendly international game. So that kind of hampered our preparations and made it a little difficult,” Butler said.

“So it is not an ideal preparation but we are hoping that we can get to Qatar early and get a friendly with one of the teams. Right now, we are trying to make the best of it by playing against Premier League teams.”

Butler noted that the technical staff are deliberately seeking strong opposition to test the players and help them improve before the global showpiece.

“We are here playing Waterhouse, one of the better teams in the country right now, and so we are trying to play opposition that can really challenge the boys to enhance our preparations,” he said.

“We are still working on stuff. We liked the second half of this game because we tweaked a few things and we are looking much better, so we are looking forward to the tournament.”

Despite the challenges, Butler stated that the players are excited about the opportunity to represent Jamaica on the world stage, and he believes the squad possesses considerable talent.

“The boys are excited they are going to a global tournament and can’t wait to get there. They are looking forward to this tournament,” he said.

“This is a very talented group. As you can see, we have two players who have been called up to the senior national team, and I think we may have one or two more who have that possibility.”

Butler also highlighted that the coaching staff would continue working with the resources available to them as they seek to have the team ready to compete in Qatar.

“The plan going forward is that we just have to work with what we have and make the best of what we have to prepare the team to go out there and perform,” he said.