( L - R ) Tyrone Marshall, Marlon King, Nigeria's John Obi MIkel

JAMAICA'S REGGAE Boyz, hit with a number of injuries to several of their top players, will tackle a highly-motivated Nigerian team fine-tuning for World Cup qualification, in a friendly international at the New Den, Milwall FC's stadium, in London, England, today at 7:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m. Jamaica time).

Regular captain Ricardo Gardner, goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, central defender Ian Goodison, striker Ricardo Fuller and Swansea City midfielder Darren Pratley, who was invited to the 20-member squad, have all been sidelined by recent injuries.

Additionally, striker Dane Richards has been ruled out due to a mishap regarding the return of his British visa, according to team manager Howard Bell.

The latter pointed out that the US-based Richards, who plays in the MLS, submitted his request for the visa, which was granted in the States. However, the courier did not return his passport on time.

"It's affected the plans in terms of the personnel, but not in terms of the way we'll approach the match, not in terms of the faith I have in the players because while you could argue that all of them would've played ... you've to look at the squad and you've to have faith in the squad," noted the team's head coach, John Barnes.

He added: "As much as they're big players and they're important players, I do have faith in the squad that we have and in terms of the work that we did, particularly now that we didn't have much time to prepare and from the work we did in the Digicel Cup, the players are understanding what's expected from them."

Very cold conditions

Barnes officially took over as head coach of the Jamaica team and won the Digicel Caribbean Championship in December.

The squad has had two workouts in very cold conditions - three degrees Celsius in early afternoon - since they begun assembling in London on Monday and will play in even colder conditions, as temperatures are expected to dip below zero.

However, with basically all the squad members playing in Europe and North America, where conditions are often similar, if not worse, Barnes does not anticipate any problems.

Additionally, there are two fairly new players in the squad, 20-year-old West Ham player Zavon Hinds, a first time call-up and recent invitee Tyrone Mears, who's in the starting eleven.

An attacking full back

"He's (Mears) a player who started at Manchester City as a young boy, then he went to Preston North End. He was then transferred to Derby County for a million pounds and he's now on loan at Marseille. He's a very good full back, attacking full back, very quick ... so he's a good acquisition to the squad."

Hinds though, is unlikely to play.

"I hadn't chosen Zavon Hinds necessarily for this game. I was looking at him possibly for the Under-20s but then as it transpired, he was 20 on December 27 and would've been too old for the Under-20s. Then yesterday (Monday), when we weren't sure whether Luton Shelton was going to be coming into the country, because he had issues with his passport ... the only striker we had was Marlon King. This is before Deon Burton (was summoned), because he lives around the corner, so Zavon Hinds was brought in."

Despite the short training stint together, Barnes doesn't foresee any problems either.

Attitude is key

"It's always it's the attitude of the players," he said pointing to the approach. "Regardless of whether it's a World Cup qualifier against Mexico, a Digicel Cup match or a friendly match I expect them to have the same attitude because that is what's going to define us ... We cannot choose when we're going to perform.

"I'm trying to produce a team that is going to play consistently well, every time we go on (the field), not just in our matches but in our training, we've to approach each and every match in the same manner."

In Ricketts' absence, Shawn Sawyers will start, while Tyrone Marshall, the sweeper and captain, will marshall the defence with Damion Stewart and Claude Davis, with Mears, Rudolph Austin, Demar Phillips and Jason Morrison playing just ahead of them. Luton Shelton and Jermaine Johnson will play just behind Marlon King.

Quality players

Regarding the Super Eagles, Barnes says he doesn't know much, other than the strength reflected by their ratings and top quality players, which includes Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel and Portsmouth's Nwankwo Kanu.

"I haven't had a chance to look at the team," he stated. "But this is their last match before going into a World Cup qualifier so they have to take this match seriously ... to have a look at things and pick his best squad."

He added: "They've got good players, they've got Kanu, they've got John Obi Mikel, so they've gotgood players who we know are among the best in the world. But I believe that if we stick together and we've a real team effort we can compete with them."

Continuing, the Jamaica-born coach who twice represented England in the World Cup Finals and won numerous English Premier League titles at Liverpool, stressed on playing well, even though the Boyz are 'underdogs'.

"It's always important to do as well as you can. We're playing a team 40 places above us, they're in the top 20 so we're the underdogs. But it's important for us to put in a good performance because we can't say we're going to win, we can't say what the score's going to be but what we should be able to guarantee is a performance of quality, a performance of spirit, determination and organisation."

Nigeria's coach Amodu Shuabi told reporters yesterday that it's the final match to prepare his team for their next World Cup qualifying assignment next month and added that he'll be "looking at some new players."

This is Jamaica's first match since they won the Caribbean Championship in December.

The Boyz, ranked 66th, have played Nigeria four times in the past seven years, winning once, 3-2 in Kingston in May, 2005. They drew goalless in Nigeria in November, 2002, lost 1-0 in England in May, 2005, and went down 2-0 in London in 2004.