but admitting they know little or nothing about the opposition.

The junior Reggae Boyz are arguably the strongest team on paper of the four nations taking part at the National Sports Centre.

If the pattern follows the senior level, Bermuda should give them a run for their money, but they should be expected to easily overcome Barbados and the Netherlands Antilles.

Jamaica kick off the tournament against Netherlands Antilles tonight (7.00 p.m.), face Barbados on Wednesday (7.00 p.m.) and then play the host nation in the finale on Friday (9.00 p.m.).

Coach Jackie Walters said although his players had been together for about six months, they did not have as much experience in playing together as previous teams.

"The last under-17 team went to Brazil about four times, they went to Europe, they went to Central America and they toured the Caribbean countries. This team has only been to one, Grenada,'' he said.

Walters said he had no information on the other sides, all he knew to expect was for the weather to be cold and for there to be the chance of rain.

However, he said: "We are treating this tournament very seriously, we are going there to win.

"We are very positive, we have a fair idea about what the level of football in the Caribbean is like, especially at under-17s level. We are going there with high expectations.

"We try to keep possession of the ball as much as possible and look for the openings and exploit them.''.

The coach would not reveal which members of his squad were considered the danger men.

"We do not consider which players are our best as such. We have a strong unit and everybody works together for the team,'' he said.

Jamaica squad: Richard McCallum, Andre Christie, Leon Williams, Copeland Williams, Demar Stewart, Andre White, Jermaine Hardy, Conrad Hunt, Akeem Priestly, Richard West, Brian White, Lovell Palmer, Dwayne Campbell, Marcelino Blackburn, Maurice Johnson, Jermaine Montique, Vivian Malcolm, Sean Bucknor.

Bermudians are being urged to come out in force to support the Bermuda under-17s.

"Bring all your red flags, red rags and noise-makers and encourage our guys to do well,'' said BFA competitions chairman Craig Tyrrell. "We need everyone in this Island to get behind the team and give us a real home field edge, a real push to perform at our absolute best.''