Jamaica, USA U-17s look to break deadlock

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

With both teams expressing healthy respect for each other following Thursday's first game 0-0 draw, Jamaica's Under-17 team and their United States counterparts will clash again this evening in the second game of their two-game friendly series at Jarrett Park, in Montego Bay, starting at 6 p.m.

The teams, which are fine-tuning their preparation for next month's twelve-team CONCACAF Under-17 Championship, which will be staged in western Jamaica, are among the teams favoured to lead the charge for the four qualifying places for this summer's FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico.

Strengthening offence

Having held the United States team, which rarely plays a CONCACAF opponent without scoring, to a goal-less draw, Jamaica coach Windell Downswell is hoping that the offensive side of his team will raise their performance to the high level displayed by the defenders on Thursday.

"We will be looking to tighten up on our offence ... presently, we are trying to find the right combination to lead our attack," said Downswell. "The players are all quite confident, and we will definitely be aiming to give an improved performance in this second."

The United States, who seemed well on course to winning the 2009 championship before 'swine flu' forced a premature end to the tournament, are building methodically for the upcoming CONCACAF tournament as, according to head coach Wilmer Cabrera, he is basically seeking to see how well his team matches up against what he considers quality opposition.

"We believe Jamaica will be one of the favourites in this tournament, so this is an opportunity to measure our state of readiness against them," said coach Cabrera. "In addition, we want to get a feel of the local condition as we have to factor that in our overall preparation for the upcoming tournament."

For today's game, Jamaica's bid to go one better than Thursday's 0-0 draw will revolve around the likes of skipper Omar Holness, Patrick Palmer, goalkeeper Odean Clarke, Andre Lewis, Jason Wright and Romario Williams, who all gave encouraging performances in the first game.

For the United States, much will be expected from the likes of the wily Paul Arriola, Matt Dunn, Jordon Allen, and Marc Pelosi, who all showed quality going at the Jamaican defence on Thursday.

One refreshing aspect of the Jamaicans' play, which the fans will probably be looking forward to again, is the new-found assurance and maturity they seemed to have picked up on their recent six-week training camp in Brazil.