CALIFORNIA, United States — The odds are heavily stacked against them.

And current form, history, and the pro-Mexican match venue will not aid their cause either.

That’s the scenario facing the Reggae Boyz when they take the field against Mexico today inside Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium at 7:00 pm here (9:00 pm Jamaica time).

Before the clash between Jamaica and Mexico, Uruguay oppose Venezuela inside the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia at 6:30 pm Jamaica time.

Mexico, on three points, lead Group C with a superior goal difference over Venezuela. Jamaica, in third, and Uruguay are both pointless.

Victory, therefore, is of paramount importance for Winfried Schaefer’s team, which will be without the services of left wing back Kemar Lawrence and midfielder Rodolph Austin. The former has been withdrawn from the competition after aggravating a groin injury, while the latter was harshly ejected on Sunday against Venezuela and has been suspended from the game.

Despite the odds, the Boyz have not given up the chase of a berth in the quarter-finals, and will hope to give a good enough performance today to upset the applecart.

“I think the system that I have found for Mexico is what we can play, and what we need; tactical discipline on the field,” declared Schaefer.

“What we need is to win and we can only win when all players do what we have to do on the field for three points, not individual glory, for the Jamaican team and for the people of Jamaica to be happy when we come from the field,” he told the

Jamaica Observer yesterday prior to the team’s mandatory training session at the game venue.

The coach has insisted that Austin’s ejection was not the main cause of the loss against Venezuela, but more because the team abandoned the game plan.

“We analysed our match after we lost against Venezuela. We talked about the mistakes, and it’s not only that Rudy had a red card. After that we had chances, but I think we played not very good.”

The 66-year-old German said that the plan is to change the system for Mexico, who employ three defenders, four midfielders, two wide attackers and one striker.

“Kemar Lawrence is out and now we have to find a left defender, but I think that is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that we have to come more together. You can lose a match and come back strong and confident.

“We have found what we think is the key to maybe beating them [Mexico] and that is the use of the outside lines with (Garath) McCleary and Jobi (McAnuff).

“All players must know what we have to do against Mexico and we have to come back to positive thinking. The States (US) lost against Colombia and came back to beat Costa Rica! We can do the same.

At Tuesday’s training session at the StubHub Center, formerly the Home Depot Center, home of LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer, the Boyz were horrendous. They were dreadful in their executions. There appeared no difference between the ‘A’ team and the ‘B’ team, as lead players appeared not to be in sync with each other, leading to numerous turnovers, oftentimes in dangerous areas of the pitch, leading to interjections by Schaefer and his assistant Miguel Coley, who were not amused.

“We have players from England, we have players from MLS, and we have local players, and the English players play not like the MLS players, not the same football, but we have to find a way for all players to play the best system for our team, not for the (individual) player,” was Schaefer’s explanation of the messy session.

During Tuesday’s tactical session, Je-Vaughn Watson was employed at left back, with Wes Morgan and Jermaine Taylor at centre back and captain Adrian Mariappa at right back. Lee Williamson and Michael Hector were in midfield with Jobi McAnuff and Garath McCleary on the wings. Giles Barnes and Clayton Donaldson occupied the forward positions.

However, after chaos reigned on the ‘A’ side, the technical staff consulted and changed up the back line with Taylor moving from centre back to left back; Watson from left back to right back, and Mariappa from right back to centre back, an indication of what might obtain today.

Taylor admitted to the

Observer that it had not been easy and that the players were trying to sort out their communication lines, in order to get it right for today.

“For this short tournament it is really going to be tough, but we need to communicate a little bit more; when we were on the pitch we could hardly hear ourselves, so we probably need to just use our eyes and experience and sort that out.

“Coming into this game tomorrow (today) I think you are going to see some levels of improvement because this game we really need to get three points, because if we don’t, then that’s it for us in the tournament.”

The Mexicans are riding on a crest of 20 unbeaten games, the longest current active streak in football. And the manner in which they destroyed Uruguay on Sunday in Arizona, in another ‘home game’, considering the Mexican population in the South Western US, makes them extremely hard to beat.

An own goal gave Mexico the early lead and after Diego Godin equalised, 37-year-old Rafael Marquez put Mexico back in the lead late on, before Hector Herrera made the game safe at the death.

Mexico will be without regular captain, the influential Andreas Guardado, who was sent off against Uruguay, but the Juan Carlos Osorio-coached unit has been perfect since he has taken charge, with eight wins in as many games, while conceding just once, against Uruguay on Sunday.

Even in the absence of Guardado, the presence of Hirving Lozano, Jesus Corona, Oribe Peralta, Chicharita Hernandez and Javier Aquino, El Tri possess enough firepower to continue their winning trend.

But the Reggae Boyz are not prepared to give up without a fight.