PANAMA City, Panama — National Under-17 assistant coach Omar Edwards was left quite peeved after Tuesday’s practice session was delayed and then shortened due to transportation woes while heading to the football field.

The coach labelled as “totally unacceptable” the series of events which left the entire delegation stranded on the roadside for approximately an hour, after the bus taking them to training developed a mechanical problem.

“The bus encountered mechanical problems and the driver had to stop for about 50 to 55 minutes. When the bus broke down it was a bit humid and it took so long to get another bus to take us. We (the management staff) consider that to be totally unacceptable, especially in a CONCACAF competition,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The first indication of trouble came when the team was picked up from the hotel by a replacement bus, and not the one assigned to the Jamaicans for the duration of their stay for the CONCACAF Under-17 tournament in Panama.

According to information reaching the Jamaican team management, the original bus was at the garage for undeclared reasons.

However, mere minutes after departing the hotel, the replacement bus stuttered and came to a stop. The driver and his assistant went working on fixing the problem and requested another bus to transport the Jamaicans, but the long wait left the team literally sweating in misery.

When Edwards and head coach Wendell Downswell eventually arrived at the Universidad Nacional de Panama training facility, they were told that their session would be limited due to other scheduled engagements.

“It (the delay) affected our training in a significant way. When we reached the training ground we heard we could only get 57 minutes of practice. That wasn’t sufficient because the coaching staff planned a more extended session and we did not get the opportunity to complete (it),” the assistant coach lamented.

Thankfully for the Jamaicans, their originally designated bus picked them up at the training venue later that evening.