LA CEIBA, Honduras — Theodore Whitmore’s Reggae Boyz continue their preparation ahead of next year’s start of the semi-fnal phase of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying campaign when they face Honduras here at 7:00 pm (8:00 pm Jamaica time) at the Estadio Municipal.

The game was organised in this northern coastal town, said to be the third largest in the Central American country, as the local authorities try to entice the Honduran governing body to schedule World Cup Qualifying games here next year.

The intimate, but rustic complex is said to have a capacity of about 24,000, but due to security reasons, no more than 21,000 tickets will be sold. Tickets cost up to a high of US$25.

The teams last met at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States where Jamaica edged them 1-0 on Ryan Johnson’s rocket in a sublime performance from the Reggae Boyz.

Since then the Jamaicans have suffered four straight losses — 0-2 to the US (Gold Cup), then 0-1 away to China, 2-5 to Ecuador in high altitude Quito, and 0-2 to Colombia in Florida, in international friendlies.

The Hondurans, too, lost their last game, going down 0-1 to the US in Florida on Saturday.

During the streak of friendly losses, head coach Whitmore has blamed poor attitude by some players and he has gone about changing the modus operandi, bringing in three Englishborn players to showcase their talent.

And while acutely aware of the criticisms and consequences which accompany defeats, Whitmore remains philosophical about “looking at the bigger picture”.

“It is a big deal in some sense because nobody wants to lose games and lose out on the FIFA rankings, but we are in a rebuilding process and the main objective is to prepare and expand the pool of players at our disposal for the World Cup Qualifying campaign,” he explained.

The Boyz had a four-day training camp in Jamaica before departing the island on Sunday morning. They arrived here just after four o’clock, following connecting flights from Miami to San Pedro Sula, then a brief 13-minute eastward travel across mountainous terrain to La Ceiba.

Following late lunch, they practised at the game venue for just over 90 minutes.

Yesterday they had a tactical session on the grounds of the Palmeras Bilingual School, less than 10 minutes away from the team’s hotel.

Like he did during last Saturday’s warm-up game against Sporting Central Academy at Brancourt, Whitmore plans to employ a 4-4-1-1 (or a 4-5-1) formation, a shift from his most often used 3-4-3 formation.

“We are looking at our options going forward and this is the first game in some time that we are playing with four at the back,” explained the former Reggae Boyz star player.

“It is going to take some time, nothing is going to happen overnight, but what we are looking at now is the broader picture and that is the first qualifying game next year.”

The coach said the training session have gone down well, but he was more interested in how the three new invitees react on the pitch.

“We have players here who we want to see in a competitive atmosphere, three of them here — Marcus Bean, Marvin Elliott and Nathan Smith.

“We still have some areas we want to cover for the remainder of the FIFA dates, so we want to treat this game as any important one going forward,” he said.

He identified central defence and right back as two of the areas most critical at the moment. So much so he had switched Rodolph Austin, normally a central midfielder to the right back position.

“We think Austin can do a job for us there and with the time remaining to start qualifying we just have to see how it goes,” he offered.

Over the last couple of days Dwayne Miller tended goal with Shavar Thomas and Jermaine Taylor in central defence, flanked by Austin on the right and Nathan Smith on the left.

In midfield he had Jason Morrison and Marvin Elliott, with Dane Richards on the right flank and Demar Phillips on the left flank. Keammar Daley was given a free role in behind Omar Cummings as the point man.

But yesterday Whitmore told the Observer that he plans to use as many players at the technical meeting dictates, which is six.

The game is be officiated by Roberto Moreno from Panama in the middle, with Hundurans Rafael Beltrand and Melvin Cruz as his assistants. Armando Castro, also from the host country, will be the fourth official.

The Jamaica squad is completed by Gariece McPherson, Keneil Moodie, Wolry Wolfe, Xavian Virgo, Marcus Bean, Jevaughn Watson, Richard Edwrads and Damion Williams.