PORTO FELIZ, Brazil — Striking on goal was the order of the day as Jamaica’s Under-20 footballers resumed full training yesterday at the Traffic Football Academy in Brazil, full of energy and enthusiasm.

The team went through a 40-minute physical in the morning under the supervision of coach Andrew Edwards, but concentrated mainly on striking on goal (finishing) and the tactical aspect during the afternoon session under the watchful eyes of Luciano and Walter Gama.

Luciano has argued that Jamaica and Caribbean football teams historically have a goalscoring problem and he said that as the camp progresses, the technical staff will be focusing more on preparing the players to hit the target with more consistency.

“During the first half of the training, we concentrated on our tactical movements to improve the positional awareness of the midfielders and defenders… and we did some exercises to improve our ball possession,” he said.

“In the second half of the training, we played some one-on-one, two against one and try to improve our scoring, because one of the problems in Jamaica and the Caribbean islands is that players don’t grow up with a scoring mentality and that is the most important thing in the game,” he reasoned.

And though the younger Gama was pleased with the session, he pointed out that a lot of work still needs to be done but that they intend to take it a step at a time with the youngsters.

“They still need to improve a lot more, but we will wait on them because it is normal and we know that scoring is one of the big problems of the Caribbean island players. So we are going to work a lot on that (finishing), so as to arrive at the tournament with a good average of scoring, but step by step we will get it done, because we have a good base on the tactical style that we are going to play,” he added.

He said the technical staff does not want to give to players too much at one time to confuse them. “So we will be patient and teach them step by step what we want from them,” he reiterated.

Another aspect of the training that pleased Gama was the seriousness, as well as the joy the players displayed in training and he believes this will be crucial to their progress as footballers.

“Playing football is something very special and this is a special time for them, playing for their national team and with the age they have.

“So they must be happy to be here and to be going to Guatemala and represent Jamaica. They need to enjoy it and work seriously, because this can change their lives for the future, for better or for worse. So it is important that they continue to put a lot of seriousness and happiness into this job,” he said.

Meanwhile, another goalkeeper Gregory McCogg joined Shaven Paul on the injury list yesterday, after complaining of pain in his knee, but it is considered to be minor and he is expected to return to the pitch soon.