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Boyz look to the east

THE Reggae Boyz could be heading to India in preparation for the final round of the Football Confederation (formerly CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.

On Sunday the national team were drawn to meet Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago in their first game of that round at the National Stadium.

It was learnt later that day that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), which had earlier said they were seeking and Asian tour, could take the team to India for a 16-nation tournament beginning January 10.

A Reuters report yesterday listed Jamaica as one of the countries to have confirmed participation in the tournament which includes Uruguay, Colombia, Yugoslavia, Cameroon, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Japan, Iraq, Jordan, Iceland, New Zealand, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and the host nation. President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi was the man who named the teams.

While Jamaica were named as having confirmed participation, general secretary of the JFF, Horace Reid, said the JFF were still in discussions with the organisers.

"Well that has not been confirmed. We are having discussions with the organisers of that tournament but we are re-examining our initial programme and pretty soon you will hear what we will be doing what we will be doing in the early part of the year leading to the first qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago," Reid said.

"Our date of confirmation has not been reached yet. On Wednesday we will know whether or not we will going," continued Reid who said that the presence of the twin-island republic in the tournament would not affect their decision to participate or not. "Absolutely not. In fact that decision to have the deadline at Wednesday (tomorrow) was taken before the draw. We are not entirely satisfied that some of the requests that we have made of the organisers have been met as yet. Once the conditions are met by the deadline we are in."

What could also have a role to play in the decision the JFF take regarding the tournament is the scheduling of the next round of the Caribbean phase of the Under-20 World Cup qualifiers.

"We have to look at the entire programme because we have only just a couple days ago for instance got the dates for the Under-20 qualifiers next year which will be in January.

"We have not yet received the dates for the Under-17s and again now that we are playing at home we have to examine what is best in terms of preparation because you have to gauge your preparation based on the way the away games are slated," Reid continued.

The Under-20s after disposing of the Cayman Islands, Dominica and Grenada in qulifications here earlier this month thought they had booked an automatic place in the final round of the qualifiers in Canada. "They (the Caribban Football Union) have now requested that we participate in another round of Caribbean competition before going to Canada which is in January," Reid said.

"It was our understanding that after that round of competition we would have advanced to the round in Canada but again we did not get sufficient information out of the CFU and now that we have got that information it is saying that we have to participate in another tournament at the Caribbean level in January before we advance."

Meanwhile Jamaica's Under-17 squad left the island yesterday to compete in the Caribean Zone of the Under-17 World Cup qualifiers in Grenada. There they will meet the host nation, St Lucia and Montserrat.

By Nodley Wright

Staff Reporter

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