JAMAICA will hope for a repeat of the 2024 Caribbean Football Union Under-14 Boys’ Tier 1 Challenge Series when they take on St Kitts & Nevis in Group C in the opening game of their title defence this morning.

The encounter is scheduled to start 9:30 am in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Jamaica had defeated St Kitts & Nevis 2-0 in their opening game two years ago when the competition was hosted in Trinidad and Tobago. Back then, the Under-14 Reggae Boyz won all six games in the series.

The current Vassell Reynolds-coached team, which departed Jamaica on Saturday, are to play three games in the first round. After the clash against St Kitts & Nevis they are set to face Aruba and Curacao at 10:00 am on Tuesday and at 1:30 pm Wednesday, respectively.

On the eve of their departure, Reynolds had told the Jamaica Observer that the coaching staff had assembled the best talent at its disposal, with an eye on another successful run in the tournament.

“We are the defending champions and we want to win,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “However, the main goal behind these events is really development and to get the players through the various age groups up to Under-17 and Under-20. It is not all about winning.”

He said while he had hoped they would have had more time to prepare, he felt the team had improved noticeably over the training sessions and the week-long camp before their departure.

“They are competent. We have seen the improvement, and that is what we are looking for,” he said.

Reynolds said during preparation they had tried to mirror the morning and early afternoon start times to be encountered at the Challenge Series.

“We played practice games at those times to get the players acclimatised to playing at that time, and on Friday we trained at 1:30 pm for the same reason as we wanted to replicate the starting times,” he said.