ANTOFAGASTA, Chile — Acquiring the requisite match fitness for a number of the Reggae Boyz in time for Saturday’s opening Group B encounter with defending champions Uruguay is now the main aim of physical trainer Andre Waugh.

The Reggae Boyz arrived at their training base here in Antofagasta last Friday afternoon with only 14 players, three locally based and the others primarily from Europe. However, they have since been joined by four others, including three from Major League Soccer in the United States, with another three players expected in today, then one tomorrow, and Je-Vaughn Watson, the last player, expected on June 14.

The Boyz were the first team in the 12-team competition to arrive in the host country, but the technical staff can take no solace from that fact as most of the other teams had already assembled at their respective homes and started preparing.

In fact, a number of teams have engaged in friendly fixtures as they fine-tune for Thursday’s opening game in the 99-year-old tournament, which features some of the best international teams in world football.

For Waugh, the job now is to get the players, who will join the camp with various levels of fitness, in sync physically.

“It’s really a situation that we are assessing,” Waugh told the Jamaica Observer shortly after the team’s first full training session at the Parque Juan Lopez (Juan Lopez Park) on Saturday evening.

He added: “We have players who have come in from playing a 10-month season, those players in the English Premiership and those in the Jamaican Premier League, and there are others in the English Championship, who would have ended their season a month ago, so it is trying to find the best way possible to get the squad as balanced as we can for the tournament.”

Nonetheless, Waugh’s early diagnosis is that the players are in fairly good condition.

“I think they are in good stead, from discussions with some of the players, especially those in the Championship,” he explained. “They have been training on their own and they would have had post-season workout programmes from their clubs, so from what we are seeing, we believe that with a week to go we can really get them to a decent level.”

It is noticeable that Wes Morgan, the Leicester City captain, and Adrian Mariappa of Crystal Palace, have been religious visitors to the gymnasium in the mornings, ahead of breakfast.

But for those who might be off the boil a little, Waugh has a programme in place to enhance their physical fitness.

“We plan to have additional workouts for those players who would have stopped playing a month ago; while taking into consideration that there are others who have played for 10 months and the issue of regeneration and recovery is important for them, so it is having a strategy that suits the individual players of the separate groups of players,” he said.

“There are other players who will be coming in from the MLS who are currently in their season, so we anticipate another level of fitness coming from them,” he added.

Meanwhile, team physician Dr Derrick McDowell informed the Observer that an application was made for an emergency Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for about two players. According to Dr McDowell, the application was deemed necessary after he executed the mandatory medical examinations which will be supplied to the organising committee.

“We have to do a medical on all players… a history examination in a series of tests. So far we have completed 15 medicals and everybody is fine… a few little concerns with some medications that a few of the players might be on, so we will have to apply for an emergency Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for about two players, but so far everybody is fine, no injuries being carried that would potentially put a player out of the tournament,” explained Dr McDowell.

In explaining how the process works, the physcian said: “You have to basically know what medication the player is on, why they are on the medication, so you make your reports and we send it through to JADCo and it goes through the TUE committee for scrutiny and a final ruling.”

He has since confirmed that the application process has started.

And in adding his voice to the players’ physical readiness, he said: “All the prime tests done so far indicate that they are fit and ready.”

And regarding the other players to arrive, he said as soon as they do, they will have their medicals done.

Jamaica open against Uruguay at 2:00 pm (Jamaica time) on Saturday inside the Estadio Regional Calvo y Bascunan, then take on Paraguay three days later at the same venue at 4:00 pm (Jamaica time) before closing out against the Lionel Messi-led Argentina at 4:30 pm inside the estadio Sausalito in Vina del Mar on Saturday, June 20.

The top two sides from each of the three groups advance to the knockout stage, along with the two best third-placed teams.