MEXICO CITY, Mexico, CMC– Jamaican footballers are responding well to high altitudes as they prepare to take on Mexico today in final round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Team doctor Carlton Fraser has rendered an upbeat appraisal as the Reggae Boyz meet the CONCACAF champions in their opening fixture at the Azteca Stadium.
Dr. Fraser said players came out of a 90 minute session Monday with no ill effects, usually a concern for athletes competing in similar environment, some 2,240 metres above sea level. “I haven’t heard anything regarding any ill effects of the session,” Dr. Fraser said.
“Basically, they were lively, and I think so far the vibes, the mood, has been 100 per cent spot on.”
Head coach Theodore Whitmore led a training session at Mexico’s Football Academy that included tactics, strategy, technical drills and a quarter mile field game.
“We are trying our best to prepare them for it (effects of high altitude), because it is a reality of Mexico,” said Dr. Fraser.
“but I was really impressed with how they handled themselves today at training, although the first day is usually the best in terms of how they handle themselves”.
Jamaica’s 23 man squad is dominated by foreign based players and includes four who have been raised in the United Kingdom.
They are Jermaine Beckford of Huddersfield, Derby County’s Theo Robinson and Reading FC’s pair of Garath McCleary and Joel McAnuff.
“It’s about being one team and achieving a goal for Jamaica, which is getting to the World Cup… if everyone’s behind that, then good,” said McAnuff, who made his debut for Jamaica as a 20-year-old against Nigeria in a friendly international in London. “I’m a big believer in positive energy and people being behind a movement and being together, that’s the management, playing staff, everybody around a specific team”.
Jamaica has had a poor history losing all five World Cup Qualifying encounters in Mexico, and conceding 23 goals, while tallying a solitary Walter Boyd strike in October 1996.
Whitmore is insisting that the Reggae Boyz must not be dominated by the Mexicans, similar to an encounter last September in which the US clinched a one –nil win against them.
“It is a whole tactical approach, and what we want to remember is the first-half approach against the USA in Ohio, and we don’t want the same sort of thing to creep in on us,” said Whitmore. “So as much as possible we don’t want this Mexican team to (dominate us); we know what they have to offer and we have been working on a number of things for the game on Wednesday.”
The Reggae Boyz were scheduled to attend final training session Tuesday evening at the Azteca Stadium, ahead of Wednesday’s game at the same venue.
Six teams are engaged in the final CONCACAF round which takes the form of a home and away series lasting through to October.
The top three teams will earn automatic spots in the Brazil 2014 World Cup Finals.
