Assistant coach of Jamaica’s Under-17 team, Vassell Reynolds says the young Reggae Boyz are aiming for a clinical performance when they face the Cayman Islands in their second Group D match of the Concacaf Men’s U-17 Championship at Cementos Progreso Stadium in Guatemala.

The match time is scheduled to get underway at 5:00 pm (Jamaica time).

The young Jamaicans will enter today’s contest full of confidence, after their 3-1 victory over St Lucia in their opening match on Monday at the same venue. However, despite the win, the Jamaicans will start the day in second place in the group, behind leaders El Salvador who dominated the Cayman Islands 8-0 in their opening match. With only the top team from the group advancing to this year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup, Reynolds emphasised the importance of scoring as many goals as possible against their opponents today.

“From the outset, we viewed all three games as finals because the overall objective from the beginning is to win all three games as that is the only way it is going to guarantee a spot in the World Cup,” Reynolds said. “It is very crucial for us to score some goals because we saw both teams play yesterday [Monday], and the fact that we would have seen both of our opponents, we are now in a better position and recognising what is in front of us.

“El Salvador would have beaten the Cayman Islands 8-0 and so we need to match that result, or even get a better result, when we play against Cayman — and so that is the whole mentality right now,” he added.

The vastly experienced Reynolds, who led Kingston College to last year’s ISSA Manning Cup title, also expressed that the boys are well aware of what is at stake and will not be taking their opponents lightly. He stated that they have prepared well, both physically and mentally, for the championships and will be coming out firing on all cylinders from t,

“We will be approaching this one no differently from the one yesterday because we won’t be complacent as, more or less, people would feel that the Cayman team is one of the weakest teams in the group. But, we won’t be complacent and we will be taking it seriously,” Reynolds stressed. “We are also approaching the game recognising that goal average may play a part and so we are taking it very seriously. It is about putting the first game behind us and mentally preparing for this one on Wednesday.”

The Jamaicans will be relying on the likes of Seymore Reid, Dario White, and Jamari Nolan — who were the goalscorers against St Lucia — to lead their hunt for goals. The midfield will be marshalled by Owen Jumpt and Geovannie Taylor, while Kieran Smith, Cai McClean, Jabar Johnson, and Damarley Williams will anchor the defensive unit.