Head coach of Jamaica’s men’s Under-17s footballers Andrew Edwards has a positive outlook about the team, but in the same breath argued that they are a work in progress.

Edwards, who recently returned to Jamaica after completing a five-month coaching course in Germany, was given the opportunity to observe the team in action for the first time when they participated in last weekend’s St George’s Invitational Football Competition.

The young Boyz won the competition, but the cash prize up for grabs was never the motivation, as fundamentally it was used as prepararations for the upcoming Caribbean Football Union (CFU) qualifying tournament, which is scheduled to be hosted in Jamaica.

Originally, the play-offs were due to be held in Guadeloupe, beginning on August 20, but CFU has announced Jamaica as the new hosts.

The Under-17s defeated host and former Manning Cup champions St George’s 3-2 on day one, after which they played out to a 2-2 draw with Portland-based Titchfield High School on the second and final day.

The performances left the coach fairly satisfied.

“It is a good first observation for me as coach with the group, I saw a lot of positives that we can work with and we saw some areas that definitely need a lot of improvement. But it is a very good base to build on and obviously there is a great deal of work to do,” Edwards told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday.

Looking ahead, Edwards added that the depth of the team has to be strengthened if the hope is to get to the CONCACAF finals and compete for a spot in the World Cup next year.

With the first round of qualifiers around the corner, the tactician noted that they will be using the time left “intensely” to get the team into shape.

“We have something that we definitely can work with; it is all about building up gradually and getting across the general ideas to the players.

“We have some time and more practice games like these are what we really need. So we thank the organisers for inviting us to this tournament and we are looking forward to other opportunities to play against some more competitive teams,” Edwards explained.

Despite not knowing what to expect from their opponents at the qualifiers, the former STETHS coach says he is only aware of the Cayman Islands team.

“The Cayman Islands team did finish third in the Under-15 tournament last year and we expect that most of those players would have moved to this level so we expect them to be a big challenge. Overall, I think it would be a big disappointment if we don’t go forward,” he stated.