THE Reggae Boyz are aiming at getting at least one friendly international before going into their decisive CONCACAF World Cup qualifier away to Panama in September.

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President, Captain Horace Burrell said on Wednesday that efforts are underway to secure a game on the FIFA date in August against a South American opponent.

“There’s a FIFA date on August 14 I believe, and already we have been looking at the possibilities with (UK-based) Kentaro Sports and (Brazil-based) Traffic Sports, plus a couple of agents in South America to arrange this game for us,” he said.

Burrell told reporters at a press conference to present new Reggae Boyz head coach, German Winfried Schafer, that the proposed friendly would be played in England.

“There are few teams we are looking at, and this one in particular, if it materialises, will be played in London… many of our players play in Europe and some of them would have just started their season, and because we want to work closely with the clubs and to maintain close relationships, we wouldn’t want to take the players far away for friendlies,” Burrell said.

The football head said he’s not confirming the game, but only to inform that everything possible is being done to make it a reality.

“The federation is determined to get at least one game before the match against Panama,” Burrell noted.

He said while high quality opponents are always a priority of his administration, sometimes circumstances will force the contrary.

“Firstly, we will always look at getting high performing teams for our Boyz, but if those efforts fail, then we might have to look closer to home,” he stated.

To their credit, Jamaica have engaged South American powerhouses Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in the past.

It is widely accepted that Jamaica missed a great opportunity of team building and chemistry by failing to qualify for the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup in the USA.

The other five nations in the final World Cup qualifying phase — USA, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and Panama — are all getting valuable practice ahead of the next round of matches.

Meanwhile, new Boyz coach Schafer welcomed the idea of a possible high-quality game before the Panama encounter, which would give him added opportunity to see the players to strengthen what he has seen of them in recent World Cup qualifying match.

“I need to see the players, talk with them, to see their character… I am not a dictator, so every player will get his chance to speak. Games will tell if the players have talent or not, whether you have the right players.

“So I can’t tell you what we are going to do until I see the players (in training and in game situations),” said Schafer, who succeeded Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore as head coach of the Boyz.

The German comes, it seems, as some miracle worker as he’s charged with the difficult task of turning around Jamaica’s fortunes in the current World Cup qualifying campaign of which Jamaica sit at the bottom with two points.

The USA lead the CONCACAF qualifying campaign with 13 points, followed by Costa Rica on 11, Mexico on eight, Honduras with seven, and Panama on six.

Three teams from the play-offs will gain automatic berths to Brazil 2014, while the fourth-place finisher’s fate will be decided by inter-continental play-off with the champions of Oceania.

Based on realistic forecasts, it looks like Jamaica’s best shot would be that play-off spot, though mathematically they could still claim an automatic place with four matches to go.