PHOENIX, Arizona — “It is not going to be easy, but it’s definitely possible.”

That’s the talking point Reggae Boyz captain Andre Blake is disseminating on behalf of his team as they face Canada in the quarter-finals of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament here inside the University of Phoenix Stadium today at 4:30 pm (6:30 pm Jamaica time).

A victory would propel the Boyz to the semi-finals with a meeting with either Mexico or Honduras at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Sunday evening.

“As the coach said, it’s pretty much the beginning of the tournament for us. Every game now we must get a result and all the guys are aware of that. And right now it’s about finding a way to survive and advance and the mood in the camp is good and hopefully we can transition that unto the field,” added Blake, who has had an outstanding tournament to date with just one concession.

The Philadelphia Union goaltender, who was voted Goalkeeper of the Year in last season’s Major League Soccer, noted that although the team is nowhere close to being the finished article, he had seen signs of progress.

“Yes, obviously there are still some stuff that needs some improvement — still a work in progress — and I think the longer we stay together the more we are gelling, so that’s good and once we can keep this group of players together and keep everybody committed to the task at hand, then the sky’s the limit.”

He admitted that the Canadians are a very good team, but that “we believe in everybody here and we know what everyone is capable of doing, so we know that once we go out there and bring our ‘A’ game and everybody plays to the best of his ability and has the fighting spirit, then we have what it takes”.

Meanwhile, one man who is looking forward to continuing his rich goal-scoring form against the North Americans is Darren Mattocks, who has notched two goals so far and four in his last five games in the tournament.

“We knew that the last game wasn’t good enough performancewise, but in a tournament the top priority is not so much about performance, but more about the result and moving forward,” Mattocks, the Portland Timber forward, said.

He added: “Obviously, we need a much better performance to go forward to the semis, so I think we had a really good team discussion regarding what we know we are capable of doing and that we should set the standards high because the team is good enough to go all the way, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves. we just need to take care of this game coming tomorrow.

“Once we play to the standards that we are capable of playing, we are good enough to go all the way, so in that regard we are pretty confident, but we have to show it because the last game was a lack lustre performance and that can’t happen again,” he warned.

The forward, who played four years in Major League Soccer for the Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada, has looked particularly sharp on tour, as evidenced by his crisp first strike against Curacao and his coolly-taken penalty against El Salvador.

He has also looked razor-sharp in practice, and he has no doubt where it all started.

“As I told the guys, what you put in practice is what is going to show on the field. You can’t expect to take it lightly in practice and expect to change a gear in the game it doesn’t work like that. So I tell the guys let’s be sharp in practice, so that in the game we are comfortable,” advised Mattocks.

— Ian Burnett