Ricketts: U-20s will do well at Concacaf qualifiers
President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Michael Ricketts, has sought to allay fears that the national Under-20 team will be underprepared for next month’s Concacaf Championship qualifiers. The qualifiers will be held in Florida, November 1-24.
The young Reggae Boyz have been drawn in Group B alongside Mexico, Aruba, Grenada, St Martin and Nicaragua from which only the top team will advance to the final round of the qualifiers.
Ricketts told STAR Sports that the preparation of the Under-20s has been overshadowed by the senior women’s team’s recent qualification for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. However, despite this, he said the Under-20s are preparing well.
WEEKLY CAMPS
“We have had some challenges with the schoolboy season and the Premier League, but right now they are in camp and they have been having weekly camps,” said Ricketts.
“They probably would not have got the sort of preparations that we would have liked but resources are hard to come by as the senior girls were priority at the time,” Ricketts said. “But now that they have qualified for the World Cup, we have to shift attention now to the Under-20 team, and I am confident that they will do well in this tournament,’ he said.
He expects the Boyz to challenge Central American giants Mexico strongly for top spot in the group..
“Mexico are one of the top teams in Concacaf, but at this stage we are competitive with all the countries in Concacaf because we have reached the finals of the Gold Cup in two consecutive years and so we are not afraid of anybody,” Ricketts pointed out.