As they seek to qualify for the 2025 FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup, Assistant Coach Vassell Reynolds believes Jamaica’s Under-17 team has made significant progress and is closer to being fully prepared for the qualifiers next month.

The young Reggae Boyz will kick off the Concacaf Under-17 Men’s qualifiers on February 10 in Guatemala where they will take on El Salvador, Cayman Islands and St. Lucia in Group H, with only the group winners qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar in November.

The team, under Head Coach Altimont “Freddy” Butler, began preparations last April and hosted friendly matches against Trinidad and Tobago’s under-17 team in May at the UWI Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

Since then, they’ve had several local camps as well as camps in the USA where they played teams from New York and Florida over the summer.

Reynolds told the Jamaica Observer that the team’s development has been evident but is still short on maximum readiness.

“We’ve seen some amount of growth, albeit [the coaches] recognise that there’s still work to be done. Since May, we would have done a number of camps and played a number of games, both locally and overseas, and I thought the boys equipped themselves very well. Not withstanding that, there’s still areas that need to be fixed but we’ve come a far way and we’re pretty satisfied with where we’re at right now,” he said.

Last month, the under-17 team played preparation matches against Jamaica Premier League outfits Cavalier FC and Arnett Gardens FC. Reynolds believes playing against more senior teams will improve their quality ahead of World Cup qualifying.

“Those games against the Premier League teams [were] of vital importance for us. As a coaching staff, we figured that playing against adult teams, especially against the top Premier League teams, would have given us a good test,” said Reynolds.

“You’re barely going to face such competition against the age group you’re going to play, so if you can extend yourself to a higher-level competition, it’s good. So that was the strategy in playing those games. I figure, more or less, we’ll try and see how we can get in another game or two before the qualifiers begin but the two games served us very well and show where we’re at and what we need to work on.”

The team departs the island for Mexico on Saturday as they take part in Torneo De Sol, a tournament put on by the Mexico Football Federation. It will run from January 6 to 11 where Jamaica will play select teams from Mexico’s top divisions.

Reynolds says the tournament will be a good opportunity to better their current standards ahead of the crucial qualifiers.

“We’ve been working to cement our identity, the boys have a clear idea of how we want to play. One of the things, though, is we need to be a little bit more consistent in our play and that’s one of the main aims going into Mexico — how consistent can we maintain a high standard of play in terms of establishing our identity technically and tactically. We also want to see how a couple of players can improve their individual role within the team,” he said.