Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
National Under-20 coach Alfredo Montesso (left) speaks with strikers Alanzo Adlam (centre) and Andre Clennon at a practise session recently at the University of the West Indies. - LeVaughn Flynn
Despite a lack of readily available friendly internationals, National Under-20 coach, Alfredo Montesso, has expressed contentment with the team's state of readiness ahead of the CONCACAF U-20 Championships.
The competition, which has seen Jamaica placed in group B alongside Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico, will kick off in Grand Cayman in a little under two weeks.
Good local competition
"It would have been nice to get in a couple of international games, but we have had good local competition and I am satisfied with the level of the team headed into this stage of the competition," Montesso said following a practise game against Waterhouse at the Drewsland Mini Stadium yesterday. The Under-20s, who played a game against the UWI team Wednesday, beat Waterhouse 3-0, led by goals from Romario Campbell, Levaughn Williams and St Georges Under-21 player Romeo Parks.
"The team has a lot of talent. We are looking organised and I think the understanding of the game by the players has been good," the Brazilian added.
"That is good enough for this stage of the competition, but there are things we will have to improve on should we advance to the next round," he said.
"Right now we are just looking to preserve the team and keep the players fit. We are also looking at finalising a couple of things, like the team's approach to the game."
A 20-man squad, which will include Canadian-based Dever Orgill, will leave the island next week for the Cayman Islands.
The Jamaicans will be looking to join Haiti, who have already wrapped up group A, St Vincent and the Grenadines, who won Group D, and Antigua and Barbuda, who were Group E champions. The top team from each group and the best second-place team will advance to the Caribbean final round, which has been scheduled for December.