LOS ANGELES, California — It appears that Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will have only 16 players for their international friendly against China on Wednesday.

Yesterday team manager Roy Simpson confirmed that only 16 players of the original 18 look set to make the gruelling trek to Shanghai, then onto to Hefei where the game is scheduled to be played.

Seven players — Xavian Virgo, Richard Edwards, Keneil Moodie, Adrian Reid, Eric Vernan, Omar Daley and Richard McCallum — who journeyed from Kingston to LA on Friday, are expected to be joined by two other local-based players and seven overseas-based players.

Ricardo Cousins and Montrose Phinn are en route via New York and due to arrive in Shanghai three hours ahead of the LA group, which includes nine officials.

Scandinavia-based Dwayne Miller, Jason Morrison, Damion Williams, Luton Shelton and Rudolph Austin and the USA-located Omar Cummings and captain Shavar Thomas are due in today and tomorrow.

Striker Ryan Johnson, who was in the original 18, sustained an injury in a game for his new club Toronto FC last week, while there difficulties with securing flight reservations for Waterhouse FC’s Kenardo Forbes.

Head coach Theodore Whitmore, while expressing concern with his reduced squad, said he hopes to make the best of what he has at his disposal.

“It is always a concern when you don’t have your best players for an international game. Nonetheless, we have seven players in the gym right now and when we see the rest of the contingent, then we will know where we go from there…,” he said from the Los Angeles Airport Marriott, where the group spent the night prior to depart for the 13-and-a-half-hour air trek to China.

Whitmore, a hero of Jamaica’s France 1998 World Cup appearance with two glorious strikes against Japan in a 2-1 win, conceded that losing Johnson was a blow to his offensive thrust, but said he aims to improvise.

“We have Luton Shelton… we have Omar Daley and Jason Morrison, so we won’t be ruling anything out,” he noted.

“My main concern is to see the rest of my players and to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for this clash,” Whitmore added.

Meanwhile, team doctor Carlton ‘Pee Wee’ Fraser has embarked on a rigorous hydration of the seven players under his care, with a an expanded programme plan when all the players come together in China by tomorrow.

“First of all the players themselves must be aware of the potential detriment they suffer on a long haul of this nature… we have to now encourage increased intake by hydrating them, not only with water, but fruit juices,” he said.

Fraser, who has reiterated the importance of proper hydration and recovery regimens in players travelling long distances, said Murphy’s Law could apply here, but he’s determined to everything to ensure the best health of the players in these trying circumstances.

“Almost every physiological detriment that can occur is possible now. The important thing is the recovery… this means we will have to heighten our programme and of course we have to get the co-operation of the players,” he warned.

Jamaica, ranked 44th by FIFA, and China rated 73rd, will be meeting for the third time, according to eloratings.com. The two-match series in Kingston back in 1977, saw the People’s Republic of China winning the first game 1-0, but Jamaica rallied to win 3-0 in the second encounter.