Members of the Under-17 team going through their paces in a training session recently. The young Reggae Boyz take on world champions Mexico this evening at Harbour View in a friendly game in preparation for their Under-17 World Cup qualifiers next month. - Contributed

Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

JAMAICA'S UNDER-17 Reggae Boyz take on the world champions Mexico in the first of two friendly games at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium today at 6:00 p.m.

The young Reggae Boyz will be using the games as part of their preparations for the final round of CONCACAF qualification for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup tournament from April 21-29.

The qualification group comprises Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States of which three will advance to the World Cup in South Korea in August.

The world champions Mexico, or 'Tricolores' as they are known, will also play Jamaica on Friday in a doubleheader as the U.S. will play a Jamaican All-Star Youth team at 4:00 p.m. as a curtainraiser.

Coach not worried

The last time the Reggae Boyz played the Tricolores in Trinidad they lost 2-1, but coach David Hunt is not too concerned about if his team can pull off the win.

Said Hunt: "It not about whether we have the tools to win. I am not looking at that, I am looking at consolidating the things that we have been practising to see how far we have gone in perfecting some of those strategies."

The young Reggae Boyz are one of two teams left with a realistic chance of qualifying for a World Cup under the Crenston Boxhill administration.

The team has been in preparation for some time and Hunt thinks everything is "going fairly well".

"It is going to be a challenging game - and the following game on Friday. Mexico are the reigning Under-17 champions and we played them in Trinidad. It was a very close game but we lost 2-1."

"Now we are playing on Jamaican soil so the players are going to put up a very competitive performance and we are hoping that the Jamaican public will come out and support the young players," he said. "It will be the first time they will have the opportunity to see the team playing a full international match in Jamaica," said Hunt.

Jamaica squad: Christopher Banner, Marlon Abraham, Akeem Henry, Akeem Brown, Sean Fogah, Peter Beckford, Marvin Booth, Dever Orgill, John-Ross Doyley, Shavar Brown, Damaine Thompson, Samari Brown, Nicholas Ebanks, Andre Steele, Kabari Palmer, Nicoy Christian, Keithy Simp-son, Jason Watson, Noel Mais, Allan Sylvester, McKauly Tulloch, Kenniel Hyde, Romario Campbell, Oniel Wilson, Andre Beckford, Andre Blake, Roybert Clarke, Jeffery Johnson, Mikhail Weatherly, Dennis Taylor, Namar Tummings

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