MONTEGO BAY, St James — With a key figure like defender Wes Morgan out of the equation, head coach Winfried Schaefer remains satisfied that his glory-chasing team can go on and conquer the region yet again.

Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will begin their quest for regional supremacy tonight at the Montego Bay Sports Complex when they face a Martinique outfit swelled by France-based professionals.

The Group B humdinger is set to kick off at 8:00 pm, following the other zone encounter featuring Haiti and Antigua and Barbuda at 5:30 pm.

The eight-nation CFU Caribbean Cup is also being contested in Group A by Trinidad and Tobago, Curacao, Cuba and French Guiana. All bowed into action yesterday, with eight-time champions Trinidad and Tobago defeating Curacao 3-2 in the curtain raiser, thanks to a brace from captain Kenwyne Jones.

Because Morgan, the Leicester City skipper, has been ruled out for the sake of recovery from a foot injury he has been carrying for a while, even as he played on the weekend for his club, Schaefer was forced to revert to the 4-3-3 system, abandoning the 3-5-2, which he seems to employ when the 30-year-old defender is available.

“We will miss Wes Morgan as he is the leader and he is one of our best defenders and he’s a good captain at Leicester City.

“With him we would play 3-5-2, but now we will change our system and I think we will play 4-3-3 tomorrow (today),” said Schaefer.

Set to start the game today in that 4-3-3 formation against French-speaking Martinique are goalkeeper Duwayne Kerr of Sarpsborg 08; defenders Jermaine Taylor (Houston Dynamo), Nyron Nosworthy (Bristol City), Demar Phillips (Aalesund), Alvas Powell (Portland Timbers); midfielders Joel ‘Jobi’ McAnuff (Leyton Orient), Rodolph Austin (Leeds United), Je-Vaughn Watson (FC Dallas) and a three-prong strike force of Dane Richards (Bodo/Glimt), Darren Mattocks (Vancouver Whitecaps) and Deshorn Brown (Colorado Rapids).

Schaefer told the Jamaica Observer at a training session at the Half Moon Hotel that a pre-tournament camp on the country’s scenic north coast did a lot in preparing early arriving players, especially those who are based at home and others who ply their trade in the North American leagues.

“Everybody, our local players and those from the MLS, worked very good in the training camp… we did fitness training and tactical training, plus we worked on different systems. Also, little by little players have come to us from Scandinavia and England,” so I think our preparation has been good,” he said.

Schaefer said the approach against Martinique, and for all other opponents in the tournament, must be “confidence” and “high-pressed game”.

“It won’t be an easy game against Martinique, like all game in the tournament, but we can win,” he noted.

Midfielder Jobi McAnuff, who is returning to the Jamaican squad after an absence due to injury and new developments in his career, said he his happy to be back to help his fellow Boyz claim glory on home soil.

“First and foremost, we are here to win it (Caribbean Cup)… we know that it is a very important competition and we have got a lot riding on it, and of course the usual local rivalries, and also doing well will help us put ourselves back in a better position in world football,” said the Leyton Orient man, in reference to Jamaica’s poor FIFA ranking of 113th after a string of defeats to mostly high-profile opponents.

With Watson and Kerr joining their teammates only yesterday, a late-arriving Simon Dawkins of Derby County is expected in today to complete the fold.

The top four teams from the Caribbean Cup advance to next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the winner earns an automatic berth to the 2016 Centenario Cup (the 100th anniversary of the South American Championship), which pits together the 10 South American teams plus six teams selected from CONCACAF.

The Boyz are already invited guests to next year’s Copa America (South American Championship) slated for Chile.