Shooting boots loading
Young Reggae Boyz go goal hunting for game against Cayman
Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 9:59 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
AFTER A winning start to their Under-17 Concacaf World Cup qualification experience, Jamaica’s young Reggae Boyz switch attention to their second Group H game against the Cayman Islands at the Estadio Cementos Progreso in Guatemala at 5 p.m. today.
Jamaica defeated St Lucia 3-1 to get their campaign off to a winning start on Monday, while El Salvador slammed Cayman Islands 8-0 in the group’s other match.
Assistant coach of the young Reggae Boyz, Vassell Reynolds, said the aim is to at least equal El Salvador’s result against Cayman, and they believe they can achieve that result.
“We just know that we will have to get some goals. We are not taking anything for granted against the Cayman Islands team. But we know that we must not just win the game, but also get some goals and as many as possible.
“We must get the first one before we can get the second and so we have that as a mindset. We would love to equal that score or even better what El Salvador has done,” he said.
Reynolds said the young Boyz are always creating chances, although they are not always clinical. He is hoping they bring their shooting boots to today’s game.
“One of the positives from the games that we would have played, and not just the game yesterday (Monday), we have been creating numerous chances, including the game yesterday. It is just that we were not as proficient as possible in front of the goal.
“But that is one of the good things about this team, we are always creating chances. We just hope that we will be very proficient in front of the goal tomorrow (today) and if we do that we will get the result that we require,” he commented.
In the game against St Lucia, the Jamaicans led comfortably until the last 15 minutes, when they got sloppy and gave St Lucia enough good chances to get back in the game.
Reynolds noted that they have addressed the issue and does not expect a repeat.
“I think it was a psychological thing. We had a very good first 25 minutes in the second half. We were 3-0 up and I thought we took our foot off the gas and got complacent, and as a result St Lucia got a look-in. It is something that we spoke about and I am sure we will guard against that come tomorrow (today),” he said.