Boca Chica, Dominican Republic — Despite an unpleasant welcome for Jamaican club champions Arnett Gardens here in the Dominican Republic on Sunday night, the team appears to have settled in nicely and is raring to go, despite claims by head coach Jerome Waite that mind games had started.

Arnett Gardens arrived in Santo Domingo minutes after 7:00 pm and were immediately picked up by the liaison officer, who is a member of the Dominican Republic Football Federation. Then after a near 15-minute drive the team arrived at the all-inclusive Be Live Tamaca Hotel but were left waiting in the lobby for over four hours.

Coach Waite and club administrator Gregory Hall, who had arrived in the country from Friday, said everything was in place for the smooth welcome for the Arnett Gardens delegation.

“When the team arrived at the hotel yesterday (Sunday) we got to understand from the people who are in charge (from the federation), that last night was not a night that they are responsible for, which meant that we had to find that additional expense to accommodate our players, but we realised that the mind games had started right there,” opined Waite.

He added: “But it’s a situation where we solved it to ensure that it didn’t create any problems for the players.”

The players appeared exhausted from their trip having left the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex at approximately 6:30 am to travel to Montego Bay for a 12:30 pm flight to Panama. Then just over an hour later, boarded a flight for a two-hour trip to the Dominican Republic.

The problems didn’t stop there, as the visitors were not able to train yesterday because, according to officials, today was the first day planned for them to take to the practice pitch.

“It didn’t really set us back because the time that they got to rest (after arriving) was minimal, so we gave them the opportunity to sleep as long as they wanted today (yesterday) and where training is concerned we will train tomorrow (today),” Waite explained.

But some players were clearly upset and laid the blame at the feet of their club management staff, prompting an emergency meeting yesterday to iron out the kinks.

“It’s a matter of when we have our team session we will outline all the things as it concerns with travelling to the other team’s country and to prepare for the unexpected. This is not the first time I have found myself into this position. We just need to understand that we are here for a job,” said Waite.

“They (players) are pretty much calm while there are some we will have to talk to a little bit more to let them understand. They are still pretty much under a little stress,” he added.

Arnett Gardens are drawn in Group Four of the Caribbean Football Union Caribbean Club Championship alongside host Club Atletico Pantoja; America FC of Haiti and SV Notch of Suriname.

Only the group winner will advance to the final Caribbean round involving four teams between April 29-May 1. The top three teams would then advance to the CONCACAF Champions League.