Jamaica's John-Ross Doyley (right) brushes off a tackle from a Mexican defender during Wednesday night's Under-17 friendly at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

AFTER holding world champions Mexico to a morale-boosting 1-1 draw on Wednesday night, Jamaica's national Under-17 coach David Hunt is quietly confident his charges will make Jamaica proud after the qualifiers in April.

"They are the world champions, I mean ...," said Hunt as he struggled to find words to describe his feelings after Wednesday's game.

However, his thoughts quickly shifted to today's second meeting in three days between the two teams and its importance.

"We will be playing three matches in six days in the qualifiers so we will be using the match on Friday to again see how quickly the players can recover and play to a certain standard," said Hunt.

Today Jamaica take on Mexico at 6:00 p.m. while the United States tackle an All Star Youth Team at 4:00 p.m. at Harbour View Mini-Stadium.

On Wednesday, Jamaica took the lead in the 71st minute when substitute Andre Steele slotted home after Kenniel Hyde's goal-bound shot was blocked into his path by goalkeeper Alfredo Medina.

A massive upset looked to be on the cards but Mexico showed why they are world champions and hit back six minutes later.

An inswinging corner was met by the tall Christian Vazquez at the far post and his volley bounced into the ground before the diminutive Ulises Plascencia headed home in the 77th minute.

Although Jamaica would have loved to win, coach Hunt was looking well ahead to qualifying for the World Cup in South Korea.

Not afraid to make changes

Said Hunt: "I think the players showed Jamaica that they are really working hard and come April we will be very competitive and try and ensure that we get one of the spots to go to South Korea."

Hunt wasn't afraid to make the changes as he was prepared to give the youngsters valuable exposure at the international level.

"This is a practice game. The result is important, yes, we would have loved to have defeated the world champions, but it is a work in progress. We were looking to give the players a little taste of what it is like. This was an excellent opportunity for most of the players to get a feel of what it is like in international football," explained Hunt.

Hunt was pleased with Jamaica's performance, claiming his defensive unit forced Mexico to change tactics twice.

"Defensively, I think we played fairly well. Some of the things we practised we need a little more work on. We gave up a goal from a free kick and that was sad. But we forced them to make changes. They came with a certain game plan and had to make two changes to that plan," said Hunt.

Jamaica will host Group B of the CONCACAF qualifiers April 28-May 6 at the National Stadium, of which two teams will qualify for the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in South Korea August 18-September 9.

Jamaica 1

(Andre Steele 71st)

Mexico 1

(Ulises Plascencia 77th)