Whitmore concerned over Under-23s' fitness

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

With less than a month to go before the start of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Under-23 Games in Puerto Rico, Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore, head coach of the Jamaica's junior Reggae Boyz, is very concerned over the fitness of his players.

Whitmore made the disclosure following his team's 2-1 victory over promoted Digicel Premier League team, Benfica, on Sunday in St Ann.

Alanzo Adlam and Davion Thorpe scored both goals for the young Reggae Boyz.

"I wasn't a hundred per cent pleased with our performance because there is still a lot of areas that we still need to work on," said Whitmore.

"Our major concern is our conditioning of the players, and this is where we need to work on because we have to get the players in tip-top shape before we go into this tournament," Whitmore said.

positive possession

He added that there were some positives that they could take from the match, and one was the way they kept possession.

"But we still have a couple of weeks to go before the tournament starts and it is now for the coaching staff to do their job by getting these players ready for this competition," Whitmore pointed out.

The Junior Reggae Boyz are drawn in Group B and will oppose CONCACAF powerhouse Mexico in their opening match on July 23, before tackling Panama on July 25, then St Vincent and the Grenadines in their last group game two days later.

Whitmore reasoned that all the teams in the tournament were formidable and stated that they would not be taking them lightly.

"Mexico is always a tough team, but all the other teams in the competition are also good. But I am pretty confident we can get the job done," Whitmore said.

Group A consists of Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Costa Rica and host nation Puerto Rico.

The top two teams from the group stage will advance to the semi-finals, and ultimately, to the final to play for the gold medal.

Squad

Peter Harrison, Dane Kelly, André Blake, Alanzo Adlam, Keithy Simpson, Jhamie Hyde, André Steele, André Darby, John-Ross Doyley, Andrew Vanzie, Andrae Campbell, Jerome Eccleston, Dino Williams, Romeo Parkes, Marvin Morgan, Oneil Fisher, Devon Williams, Jason Johnson, Damaine Thompson, Dennis Taylor, Evan Taylor, Davion Thorpe, Deshorn Brown.