Jamaica Under-17 men’s football team Head Coach Merron Gordon says in spite of passport issues preventing the selection of a number of players, he is happy with the squad he has going into the Concacaf Under-17 Championship next month.

The tournament, which will be played in Guatemala, serves as qualifying matches for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Peru this November.

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) named a 20-man squad for the Guatemala trip, but Zak Lovelace of Rangers in Scotland; Kyrome Lumsden, who plays for Los Angeles FC Academy; and Birmingham City attacker Cameron Eubank are all missing because they could not obtain Jamaican passports in time.

Gordon says that although the JFF tried to assist in the process, there was little it could do to affect the outcome.

“These are minors, so there’s little or nothing that the federation can do, sometimes, to achieve paperwork for these boys, or to help them,” Gordon said in an online press conference on Wednesday. “Most of the players that were on the provisional list are players that we had numerous conversations with their parents. We are not happy, but it’s the reality of what we have, so we just have to work with it.

But Gordon says the JFF is working to ensure such an issue does not recur by recruiting the players earlier.

“We are very, very confident with the team selected, but this is what we have to work with now, but [logistics regarding documentation] is something that we’re definitely going to correct in the very near future, in terms of time to prepare and move forward.

“But we are confident in the 20 boys we chose that we can go ahead and give a good showing and hopefully can push us across the line to make it to Peru.”

The junior Reggae Boyz will play two international friendly matches against Trinidad and Tobago ahead of the trip.

The first takes place at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz on Saturday at 3:30 pm. The second match will be played in Kingston on Tuesday, but the JFF has not yet confirmed a time or venue. Both matches will be open to the public.

The Reggae Boyz are in Group G of the Concacaf U-17 Championships with Costa Rica, Cuba, and Guadeloupe.

FULL SQUAD

Goalkeepers

Taywayne Lynch (Mount Pleasant)

Joshua Grant (Inter Miami)

Defenders

Ahir Dixon (Mount Pleasant)

Alexavier Gooden (St Andrew Technical High School)

Maleek Robinson (Garvey Maceo High School)

Adrian Reid (St George’s College)

Malachi Molina (FC Dallas)

Nahshon Bolt-Barrett (Clarendon College)

Brandon Bent (Inter Miami)

Midfielders

Ronaldo Barrett (Hydel High School)

Jason Whyte (Glenmuir High School)

Jordan Mangatal (South Florida FA)

Evrald Swaby (Garvey Maceo)

Dustin Cohen (Denbigh High School)

Dyllon John (Jamaica College)

Forwards

Orane Watson (Glenmuir)

Jahmani Bell (Wolmer’s Boys’ School)

Nicholas Simmonds (Richmond United)

Adrian Mahoney (Toronto FC)

Ashton Gordon (Atlanta United)