KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica Under-20 Women’s Head Coach Hue Menzies is looking forward to the team’s pre-tournament camp for the CONCACAF Championship, set to be staged in Honduras.

The bulk of the Jamaica delegation is set to arrive in Honduras on Saturday to begin preparation for the tournament, which begins on December 3.

“We are going to get in some days of training for this tournament, and that’s good. We’ll be testing on the first day to see where they are physically and then things should taper down as we get closer to the first game,” Menzies told OBSERVER ONLINE.

He said that due to injuries and some players engaged with their respective schools in North America the squad is not at its strongest.

“There are some injuries and there is the issue with colleges. There are college final exams, so some players wont make it, and the timing of this tournament is pretty bad,” he said.

Jamaica, runners-up in the Caribbean Championship, open their CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s account in Group A versus Honduras. The Young Reggae Girlz are also pitted against Canada and regional rivals Trinidad & Tobago in the preliminary stage.

Group B comprises United States, Mexico, Panama and Caribbean champions Haiti.

The top three teams at the CONCACAF tournament are set to qualify for the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup to be held in Papua New Guinea next year.

Sanjay Myers