As the saying goes, most things worth the pursuit rarely comes without great sacrifice and challenge.

Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Boyz will, in short order, get a taste of this reality when they go up against monumental opposition in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) finals slated for Trinidad and Tobago September 16-25.

In the proverbial ‘Group of Death’, the Young Boyz will tackle two giants of the regional game in hosts Trinidad and neighbours Haiti.

In the four-team Group A, there is a traditional minnow in Bermuda, but the fact that they were able to top a preliminary group involving St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines speaks volumes to their potential as a threat.

In Group B of the CFU finals — following the completion of the six-group preliminaries — Cuba, Guadeloupe, Curacao and Suriname will fight for their right for a place in the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship to be held April 21-May 7 in Panama City.

The four semi-finalists and the best fifth-place finisher will advance to the Panama play-offs from the CFU decider. From the CONCACAF tournament, the top-four will earn spots to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup scheduled for India next summer.

Jamaica’s head coach, Andrew Edwards, in reacting to the challenge ahead, said he was not surprised that his team would have found itself in a tough group.

“From the draws for the preliminary rounds took place, I know we would have ended up in the group of death as I did expect Haiti to come through,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.

“Bermuda was a surprise as I thought either St Lucia or St Vincent would have been better, but obviously Bermuda did their job, so obviously they have the right to be there and they must be taken very seriously and must be seen as a threat,” Edwards said.

The Jamaican coach, who guided his Boyz through their preliminary group in the US Virgin Islands recently with maximum nine points, has already started crunching numbers and weighing the possibilities as he looks to success in Trinidad.

“I think our job is simple in the sense that we need to ensure that we get six points from these three preliminary- round games at the minimum, so the first game is going to be extremely crucial.

“We will continue to try and collect some information on Bermuda because that’s our first game. But after that game we will be able to see Haiti before we play them, and we would have got opportunity to see Trinidad twice before we play them,” Edwards noted.

Looking to the Trinidad tournament and beyond, the Jamaican tactician is hoping to strengthen the team, not only from a player perspective, but staff as well.

Edwards, fully aware of the financial constraints of the Jamaica Football Federation, ventured nonetheless to underline the importance of having a physiotherapist, physical trainer and a masseur — all of which were unavailable in the US Virgin Islands.

“Looking ahead to the tournament in Trinidad, it is very important we continue the preparation in a very decisive and consistent manner. All the staff complement that we mentioned earlier, including a physio that was not included, we must have on a regular basis.

“We shouldn’t be training (locally) at all without a physio and a doctor, something that has beset all the youth teams… down the road, and we need to have medical personnel on site each time we train or play practice games, so it’s important to have all these people available to assist the team and as many of them as possible to travel with the team when we go to Trinidad,” he said.

Edwards, whose substantive profession is a teacher, is eyeing an international friendly engagement ahead of Trinidad, which he thinks would be a big boost to the pre-tournament preparation phase.

“Hopefully we would want to get at least one international game before we go to Trinidad, but failing that, we will continue to work with our daCosta Cup, Manning Cup and parish all-star teams, and use them as best as we possibly can to prepare the team going forward,” he stated.

Edwards says as he aims to reinforce the ranks of the squad, he has a number of individuals in his sights.

“We still have some faces that we need to scout. We have had contact with Jordan Brooks from Portsmouth in England, but also we have five kids — one from England, three from the States and one from Canada — that we are looking at.

“We also have kids from Jamaica like Shaquille Smith, Nickque Daley and Shaquille Wright, who are among players who would normally contest for a place in the team and who we expect to come back fighting,” he noted.

Edwards has a warning for players who participated in the US Virgin Islands tournament.

“It is important that the players here don’t become complacent, and they must recognise that we are starting all over of building up the team. Of course we will have a core, but it is very possible that up to six players could lose their places if they are not careful,” he warned.