NO FEAR - Young Reggae Boyz coach believes confident charges can disrupt tough World Cup group

Altimont ‘Freddie’ Butler, head coach of Jamaica’s Under-17 team, says the young Reggae Boyz have nothing to fear as they prepare for a challenging Group E campaign at next month’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Qatar.

Jamaica have been drawn alongside European champions Italy, Côte d’Ivoire, and Uzbekistan at the tournament, which will mark the team’s third appearance at the Under-17 World Cup.

The young Reggae Boyz qualified for the competition after topping their group at the Concacaf qualifying tournament in Alajuela, Costa Rica, in February.

While acknowledging the quality of their opponents, Butler believes that Jamaica possess the speed, aggression, and physical attributes to compete with the best teams in the group.

“The possibilities are strong because we know the Italians as they are the European champions at the under-17 level, so we have to go there and impose ourselves with our speed and aggression and see how we can push them back, turn it into a foot race, and try to push them back,” Butler said.

“The Africans, it will be a like-for-like match-up, and against Uzbekistan, we hope to impose our physicality and our speed. We hope to get a positive result from those games.”

Despite the difficult draw, Butler said his players will approach the tournament with confidence and belief in their abilities.

“There is no fear because we believe that we can go there and do well. We believe in the boys, and the boys are believing in themselves, and I don’t think we have any fear right now,” he said.

However, Butler underscored that he is fully aware of the challenge awaiting Jamaica, pointing to the quality and international pedigree of their group opponents.

“The group is a very tough group because you will be playing against the European champions, and they will be playing against one of the top teams from the African continent. We will also be against Uzbekistan, and you have to give Uzbekistan credit because they also did well in the World Cup and went to the semi-finals of the Under-20 World Cup a few years ago,” he said.

“We are looking forward to that. We will be playing against solid opposition, so we are hoping that we can go there and give a good account of ourselves. We are impressed with our talent because we have good talent here,” Butler shared.