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Waite satisfied with Mexican experience
June 13, 2024
Jerome Waite, head coach of the national under-20 team, says the players performed fairly well during the recent tour of Mexico.
The players were asked to perform under tough conditions and Waite said that it was a good test for the players who will be asked to play under the same conditions in the upcoming Concacaf Under-20 Championships.
"It was in spurts (performance) as based on the high altitude the concentration could not be continuous. The more you play the intensity increases, but I think overall some players acquitted themselves fairly well and we tried to encourage them to push themselves. It wasn't easy and was in fact pretty difficult," Waite reflected.
The young Reggae Boyz played two matches. Last Saturday, they lost 2-0 to Guatemala before going down 6-2 to the highly rated Mexicans on Monday. According to coach Waite, despite losing both fixtures he, along with the coaching staff ,took a lot of positives from the two games.
"There were a lot of positives and as it relates to the physical, technical and tactical areas. There is always room for improvement and especially the mental toughness will have to improve going forward. These were practice games for the boys to showcase their talents and it wasn't the strongest under-20 national team," Waite added.
The games were used as part of the Reggae Boyz's preparation ahead of the upcoming under-20 Concacaf championships set to be played in Mexico, July 19 to August 4. Waite explained that his plans include trying to have his overseas talent in camp for an extended period of time to help with the bonding among players.
"We would love to get the boys from Europe in. However, some of their clubs are reluctant to release them at this time as they are involved in their various pre-season preparations which they don't want the players to miss. We are trying our best to see if they can work with us to allow these boys to be together for at least two to three weeks leading up to the qualifiers," Waite said.
