THE Jamaican coaching staff will be expecting a tougher test today when they take on Aruba in their Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-14 Boys’ Group C Tier 1 Challenge Series at 9:00 am in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Jamaica lead Group C on three points after beating St Kitts and Nevis 4-0 on Monday, while Aruba and Curaçao are on one point each after playing out a 1-1 draw.

Head Coach Vassell Reynolds said while they were only able to see a small part of Aruba’s game, they saw enough to know they will be tested much harder.

“It was difficult to assess the other two teams as both games were played simultaneously,” he told the Jamaica Observer. However, he said that once Jamaica took control of their game in the second half, they were able to “spy” on the other game.

“After we took total control of our game though we got in a short view and took a few notes,” he said. “That short observation tells us that the Aruba team will pose a bigger challenge for us come Tuesday.”

With three games being played on three consecutive days at a difficult time of day, Reynolds said squad rotation will be crucial if Jamaica are to win the group.

“The focus is to get it right as it relates our recovery work. We also have to rotate the players as much as we can while maintaining our standards,” he said.

Jamaica made a slow start against St Kitts and Nevis on Monday and led 1-0 at half-time before taking control in the second half to run away comfortable winners.

Reynolds said the team was pleased with the performance, considering the short time between their arrival in the Dominican Republic and the opening game.

“Despite the fact that we were a little concerned about arriving and settling down in the wee hours of Sunday morning and to play early Monday morning, we were pretty satisfied with the performance; the result was okay. I thought we dominated the game, especially the second half and there were opportunities for us to have won by a much larger margin but that’s okay, no pressure on the young lads,” Reynolds said.

He said the second half was particularly pleasing, with the substitutions made at the break making a significant impact.

“The second half was very pleasing, the substitutions at the half-time break did extremely well and turned the game for us, there was much more dominance on the ball and created more goal-scoring opportunities then,” Reynolds said.

Tai-Sean Headley scored twice for Jamaica, who repeated their opening-game victory over St Kitts and Nevis from the 2024 tournament.

Kylon Gayle opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a brilliant free kick from a few feet from the left touchline that sailed over goalkeeper Tres Hewlett and into the far corner.

Jamaica had to wait until the first minute of the second half to double their lead when Headley fired the ball under Hewlett at his left post.

Headley completed his brace when he converted from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute after Makiri D’Aguilar was fouled on the edge of the six-yard box.

Basil Trail, who came off the bench in the second half, scored the fourth goal in the 52nd minute.