SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — It’s D-Day for Jamaica and the United States of America (USA) as they battle for one of two remaining tickets to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup when they meet in the second CONCACAF Championship play-off game today at the Estadio Francisco Morazan at 6:00 pm (Jamaican time).

The Jamaica/USA game is also deemed to be the Championship third-place play-off match, while in the first play-off game at 3:00 pm, Canada and Costa Rica fight to secure the other World Cup spot and claim fourth place in CONCACAF.

Group winners Honduras and Mexico will square off at 8:00 pm in the Championship decider.

Jamaica will be seeking their third Under-17 World Cup berth having qualified in 1999 and 2011, while the USA will be looking to reach the World Cup for the umpteenth time having just missed out in 2013.

The young Reggae Boyz will enter the match with the psychological advantage having defeated the Americans 1-0 last Wednesday with several starters on the bench.

Both teams have met six times at this level with the USA leading with three victories to Jamaica’s two, but this seventh clash will be the most important.

Head coach Andrew Edwards is confident his charges will show that Wednesday’s win was no fluke and repeat their victory over the Americans.

“We are very relaxed, composed and are looking forward to tomorrow (today) with great excitement and anticipation. We believe we can repeat our performance from Wednesday and win the game. We are determined to do that,” said Edwards.

“We had a very good training session this morning (Saturday), our final session, and it was fun to watch the boys enjoying themselves. Once we are able to replicate that come tomorrow, I am pretty certain that we are going to be doing very well and get the victory.”

Yesterday’s early morning training session gave the boys enough time to fully recover as they enter the biggest game of their careers.

But once again Edwards is caught in a conundrum whether to revert to his regular starting team or stick with the bench players who performed superbly in Wednesday’s victory over the USA.

“We will be having a few changes, no two ways about that. We have to respect the quality of those who have served us in the past and those who have served us in the most recent times. So we have to create the best balance. But what is most important is that we support each other with the decisions that are made. We have absolute confidence in any player we put on the park,” said Edwards.

“We just want to maintain our composure, want to keep on our focus and our goals on avoid being panicked and rushed in whatever situation may arise, and just play to the best of our ability and have fun,” Edwards reiterated.

On Wednesday, the coach rested several players who were sitting on yellow cards including captain and holding midfielder Shandel Senior, leading goalscorer Nathaniel Adamolekun and creative midfielders Alex Marshall and Peter Lee Vassell. All are expected to regain their starting positions today.

But then there are players like Nicholas Nelson, Tajea Brown, Jahlanie Hammond and Zaire Bartley who left their mark on Wednesday against the USA and will have to revert to the substitutes’ bench, an indication of the depth in the team. Something every coach loves to have.

But despite the confidence in the Jamaican camp, not for one minute can they take the Americans lightly, despite the absence of their captain Hugo Arrelano of LA Galaxy through yellow card accumulation. The Richard Williams-coached team remains a formidable one.

Mexican-based Joe Gallardo Jnr from Monterrey FC is the team’s joint top scorer with four goals, but surprisingly he didn’t start but came on after the hour mark. He should regain his starting position and form a dangerous partnership with Joshua Perez, who is also on four goals.

The USA have a population of 319 million according to a 2014 survey making it the third most-populous country in the world behind China (1.3n) and India (1.2b). Jamaica is listed as 141 with 2.7 million. That, coach Edwards has said, has nothing to do with this game. It’s just 11 against 11 on the field.

“Everybody is eager to get out on the park and do his best for Jamaica. Everybody is eager to be a part of this historic moment that we are anticipating,” he concluded.