Jamaica’s Under-20 National footballers left the island yesterday en route to Tialpan, Mexico for a two-week training camp prior to the start of the CONCACAF Championship which is a World Cup qualifier.

The Jamaicans under Brazilian head coach Luciano Gama had their final local training session yesterday at St George’s College for the championship which is set to start on February 18.

The 12-team tournament will see four teams advancing to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey between June 21-July 13.

Despite only six members of the Under-17 team that qualified for the 2011 FIFA-U-17 World Cup, this Under-20 squad is a powerful one but will have its fair share of controversy as to a few players that were left out or unavailable.

Jamaica are drawn in Group C alongside Panama and Puerto Rico of which the top-two teams advance to the quarter-final and the winner of that clash will qualify for the World Cup.

Jamaica’s likely opponent will come from Group D which includes regional powerhouse Mexico, El Salvador and Curacao. The top team from Group C will play the runner-up in Group D and the top team in Group D will tackle the runner-up from Group C.

So Jamaica will be hoping to top their group and avoid Mexico who are also expected to top Group D. A clash with El Salvador or Curacao will be a more favourable encounter for the young Reggae Boyz in their quest for World Cup glory.

As part of their preparation, the young Reggae Boyz will play two practice games against the United States Under-20 on Sunday, February 10 and two days later on the 12th in Toluca. The USA are drawn in Group A with Costa Rica and Haiti.

Jamaica will kick off their World Cup quest against Puerto Rico on Tuesday, February 19, before taking on Panama four days later on February 23. All matches will be played at the Cuauhtemoc Stadium.

Full squad — Rashaun Patterson (Portmore/St Jago) and Nico Campbell (Cavalier/St George’s College); defenders – Alvas Powell (Portmore United/Paul Bogle High), Zhelano Barnes (Cavalier/St George’s College), Javaun Waugh (Clarendon College), Kereen Manning (Portmore United, formerly of St GC), Shawn Lawes (Arnett Gardens), Damion Lowe (University of Hartford/Camperdown High) Sean McFarlane (St Leo University); midfielders – Rickardo Oldham (Arnett Gardens/formerly of Camperdown), Romario Jones (Cavalier/St George’s College), Omar Holness (Unattached/formerly of Wolmer’s Boys), Keneil Kirlew (Montego Bay United), Andre Lewis (Portmore United/St George’s College), Mark Brown (Cavalier/St George’s College), Andrew Allen (Arnett Gardens/formerly of Charlie Smith); forwards – Paul Wilson (Portmore United/ formerly of Glenmuir), Oshana Boothe (Rae Town/St George’s College), Cleon Pryce (Portmore United/Dinthill Tech) and Kendan Anderson (Portmore United/St George’s College).