VERACRUZ, Panama — Jamaica’s hope of qualifying for the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup now hinges on tomorrow’s quarter-final meeting with Canada at the Estadio Muquita Sanchez in Chorrera.

Head coach Wendell Downswell told the Jamaica Observer his group of youngsters, who have been given ample time to rest and prepare since playing their last group game on Monday, will be ready for the “challenging” test.

“Our intention is to qualify (and) we are quite upbeat. We know it won’t be an easy task… it’s going to be a challenging one for us. Quarter-final games are always tough (and) it may very well go into extra-time and things like that, so that we are preparing for.

“We know that we are down to 90 minutes away from qualification. This is probably the most crucial 90 minutes in the history of this Under-17 (team),” he said ahead of the squad’s practice session yesterday.

All quarter-final winners at this CONCACAF Under-17 Championship are assured a place at the World Cup later this year in the United Arab Emirates.

The Jamaicans confirmed their progress to the last eight of the tournament after Group A winners Panama — who ended with four points — eliminated Barbados with a 2-0 victory late on Wednesday.

Downswell’s team finished second in Group A with two points after 1-1 and 2-2 results against Panama and Barbados, respectively.

Despite, at that time, not being 100 per cent certain whether the result in the Panama-Barbados clash would favour his outfit, Downswell explained that he knew he had to keep the players sharp with training stints on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We had to be ready. We have a structured programme so that the youngsters get adequate rest. But we also had an extended session yesterday (on Wednesday) because based on what we saw we expected Panama to beat Barbados so we could go through,” he said.

Downswell gave a bare outline of how the technical staff will approach the crunch quarter-final clash with the North American country.

“We have a (training) session today (yesterday) and one on Friday (today) so that is a basic schedule, plus we will have regular meetings with the players in-between. Whatever we do here will determine whether we advance or not and we are hell-bent on doing that.

“From a tactical perspective we have been working on the defensive unit, (because) having played two games and conceded three goals we figure that we need to tighten defensively. We will also focus on the offensive part of our game, (though) I think we have been doing fairly well there,” said the former national senior coach.

He also praised the team for defying the odds in progressing to the knockout stages alongside opponents that he believes were better prepared.

In Saturday’s other quarter-final match at the Estadio Muquita Sanchez, Panama welcome Group B runners-up Trinidad & Tobago at 8:00 pm.

The other teams to advance to the quarter-finals are world champions Mexico, CONCACAF Under-17 title-holders United States, Guatemala and Honduras.