Ricketts: South Africa clash a very important part of Boyz rebuilding process

President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Michael Ricketts said today's Reggae Boyz’s friendly international game against FIFA World Cup-bound South Africa is a very important part of the rebuilding process for the national senior team. 

The match will be played at 4 p.m. Jamaica time in Pachua, Mexico, behind closed doors. 

Interim head coach of the Reggae Boyz Rudolph Speid has assembled a mixture of mostly local and overseas players for today’s game. 

Ricketts said the game is a massive opportunity for these players to stake claims for regular selection to the national team. 

"This game is part of the development programme because we are looking at some youngsters who we are hoping will be able to make the transition to the senior team,” said Ricketts.

 “It is a process and it is part of our development where we give youngsters an opportunity to participate at the senior level."

The JFF boss pointed out that playing against South Africa is going to be tough and so they will be paying keen attention to how the youngsters perform during the game. 

“South Africa are always a tough team but we are not looking at results because we are looking to build a strong programme to see how the young players will acquit themselves and hopefully they will do well against a seasoned South African team,” Ricketts said.

He also added that this is a great time to be playing this match as their game against Ghana which is scheduled for this month has not been finalised as yet. 

“I think that it is a good time to have a game like this because we were having discussions with Ghana and they have set a playing date for June 10 but we were not able to conclude those discussions,” Ricketts said. “We are still waiting for them to get back to us."

Jamaica's full squad: 

Goalkeepers: Coniah Boyce Clarke, Tafari Chambers

Defenders: Christopher Ainsworth, Ronaldo Webster, Richard King, Jeovanni Laing, Kyle Ming, Jon Bell, Robino Gordon, Tarick Ximenes.

Midfielders: Adrian Reid Jr, Brandon Cover, Nickyle Ellis, Dwight Merrick, Courtney Clarke.

Forwards: Kaheim Dixon, Dwayne Atkinson, Trivante Stewart, Dajaune Brown, Nickalia Fuller, Khori Bennett, Ronaldo Robinson.