General secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Dennis Chung says the Reggae Boyz have nothing to fear from their opponents at this year’s Gold Cup tournament because he is confident that they can win the competition.

The Jamaicans were drawn on Friday to play defending champions United States, Nicaragua and either Curaçao, French Guiana, St Kitts and Nevis or Sint Maarten in Group A during the first round of the tournament.

The tournament opens June 24 and the final is set for July 16 in Inglewood, California. In total, 15 stadiums in 14 United States and Canadian cities will host matches.

The draw was held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood with Concacaf President Victor Montagliani participating, plus former national team stars Carlos Pavon (Honduras), Cobi Jones (USA), Jared Borgetti (Mexico), and Tashana Vincent (Jamaica). The head coaches of the participating national teams were also in attendance.

Chung told the Jamaica Observer on Friday that the federation’s main objective going to the tournament is to win and he is confident that it can be done.

“We are pretty confident that we will make it out of this group,” said Chung. “I think that if our objective is to win it, then that means that we can beat any team that is there, and so our objective is definitely to win the Gold Cup,” he said.

“However, I think that the USA is always a tough team, but sometimes it is good to play those matches out front and see what the team is made out of and how well we play against them,” Chung stated.

He pointed out that Nicaragua is a fairly decent side, but he believes that the Reggae Boyz will come out on top against them and the other side in the group.

“These teams are always formidable opponents, but I think Jamaica is better than them. Nicaragua is a decent team, but we are ranked above them and that tells you something because we are one of the top teams there, and so we don’t have any problems with who we come up against,” he noted.

Chung also stated that the tournament presents a massive opportunity for the JFF to take a closer look at the work that Head Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has been doing with the team since his appointment to the job in September of last year.

“I am very excited about the Gold Cup because we want to see the coach in a tournament like this because it is his first big tournament,” he said.

“I think he has done a lot because you can see the maturity coming into the team that he has put together and it is a slow pace build-up to a great team, so I think everything is gelling and I am very excited about it,” Chung said.

The US have 38 wins, one loss and four draws in the Gold Cup group stage. The Americans are ranked 13th in the world, Jamaica 63rd, Curaçao 88th, St Kitts and Nevis 139th and Nicaragua 140th. French Guiana and Sint Maarten are not ranked because they are not FIFA members.

Meanwhile, Mexico were drawn in Group B to play Haiti, Honduras and invited guest team Qatar.

Costa Rica meet El Salvador, Panama and either Martinique, Puerto Rico, St Lucia or Suriname in Group C. Canada face Cuba, Guatemala and either Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana or Trinidad and Tobago in Group D.