FRANKFURT, Germany — Members of the Reggae Boyz team which lost 0-2 to South Africa in a friendly international at the Offenback Kickers stadium here last Wednesday agree that the playing conditions were taxing and new to them.

The Boyz arrived only 11 hours prior to the 8:30 pm (German time) kick-off following torturous trans-Atlantic flights originating in Miami and Detroit in the United States.

Though they lost the game, the travel weary Boyz put in a sterling performance which was marked by fluent, and at times, eye-catching football.

But as was expected, their legs began to fail in the latter stages of the hurriedly organised match, conceding two goals after holding off a desparate Bafana Bafana for a goalless first half.

But credit to the players’ relative recovery in a short period of time from jetlag and its attending factors, was paid to team doctor, Carlton Fraser, who executed a rigid rehydration regime that started in the air with the 11 players with whom he travelled with from Detroit.

“I started working with them on the flight (from Detroit to Frankfurt) and we did some treatment from we were going over the Atlantic,” said Fraser at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as some players waited to connect for Montego on their return trip home on Thursday.

“Critically, I thought their performance with the stamina limitation was very good, I thought they met up to what was required, but you could see in the last 15 or 20 minutes you that they weren’t that sharp becuase obviously the fatigue stepped in there and their reaction started failing,” said Dr Fraser, who is a specialist in sports medicine and integrated medicine.

During the game, Dr Fraser said he constantly monitored the players. “I thought the South Africans were recovering faster than us in defence and at halftime in the changing room I monitored them to see how they were breathing and perspiring and that appeared okay,” he said.

Team captain Jermaine Taylor, the most senior member of the mainly local-based squad, said arriving after a long haul flight the very day of a match, was an eye-opener for him.

“Of all my experience travelling with the national team, this must be one of the worst conditions we had to play a game in. Travelling across the Atlantic and sitting down so long was difficult, but I am not using that as an excuse, but you could see that the goals were scored in the latter stages of the game when the leg started to get heavy,” he said.

Hard-running Harbour View frontman, Kavin Bryan, said at one stage when fatigue set in in considered asking the coach to substitute him, but chose to stay on as he searched in vain for goals.

“It was difficult, but I think we still could have gotten a positive result. At one point, I wanted to tell the coach to take me off because I felt my calves hurting me, but I just tried to soldier it out. There is no doubt that the travelling affected us and I don’t like to drink water so I believe the conditions affected me more than the other players,” he said.

Midfielder Keammar Daley said his legs began to fail him somewhere around the 70th minute or so. “I did not feel in fatigue at the beginning, but as the game went along I started to feel it, but that’s when we had to focus and keep the ball more; their (South Africa) tempo was fast so we couldn’t keep pace with them so we had to keep the ball and slow down the game,” said the Tivoli Gardens maestro.

Defender Desmond Breakenridge, who partnered skipper Taylor and Dicoy Williams in the heart of defence, said “it was a rough task, but a job that needed to be done”.

Xavian Virgo, who operated down the left flank, noted that the ket to the Boyz’s outstanding rendition was due in part to mental toughness. “Afterall the travelling and stuff I didn’t think it was all that bad because we were mentally prepared for the game, but in the last couple of minutes I could feel the fatigue chip in,” said the Boys’ Town man.

“It was no mental tiredness to the game, it was more physical as the legs started to get weary. The coach had said that coming here and playing a game on the same day, we should just go out there and give it our all and I think we could learn a lot from the experience,” was the view of Tivoli’s Navion Boyd.

Manager Howard Bell and 11 players — Kavin Bryan, Duwayne Kerr, Desmond Breakenridge, Richard McCallum, Romario Campbell, Ricardo Cousins, Richard Edwards, Keammar Daley, Navion Boyd, Jerry Walters and Dino Williams — left Kingston by bus at 6:30 am on Tuesday and arrived in Montego Bay. After linking up with coach Thedore Whitmore, they flew out of Montego at 12:50 pm and arrived in Detroit, Michigan at 5:30 pm, then departed from Detroit at 7:20 pm for a 9:30 am touchdown in Frankfurt on Wednesday.

Another group consisting head of delegation Michael Ricketts, goalkeeper coach Warren Barrett, masseur Pablo Camargo, equipment manager Norman Stone, players Jermaine Taylor, Xavian Virgo, Devon Hodges, Mario Swaby, Jeavaughn Watson and Nicholi Finlayson left Norman Manley in Kingston 7:00 am on Tuesday, arrving in Miami about 9:50 am.They then left 3:45 pm for Frankfurt, before arriving in the German city at 6:40 am on Wednesday.

USA-based Ryan Johnson, departed San Jose, California 8:30 am, arrived in Dallas at 2:00 pm, before departing 40 minutes later on Tuesday for Frankfurt, getting in at 7:20 am on the day of the kickoff.

Dr Fraser left from Fort Lauderdale at 11:00 am for Detroit where he linked with the largest group of players and travelled with them the rest of the way.

By any stretch of the imagination, Dr Fraser conceded the travel plans were far from ideal and he would hope that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the situation.

The Boyz were asked to play South Africa following the late pullout of China.