Kenny Thompson and his national Under 20 squad leave today for Jamaica to compete in the Caribbean Zone World Cup qualification tournament.

The Bermuda Football Association?s youth director has been busy all summer preparing the 18-man squad at Bermuda College for the challenge of Jamaica, Antigua and St.Lucia ? with all three games being played out in the space of a week.

Speaking to yesterday, Thompson said he is ?hopeful? of qualification for the CONCACAF championships which get underway in January ? although with only the top-placed finisher going through, Thompson is under no illusions as to the difficulty of the task ahead.

?We have a pretty strong group of players going down to Jamaica and you always have to be optimistic going into a tournament like this,? he said.

?Certainly the biggest obstacle we will have to overcome is the challenge of Jamaica, who are in my opinion the most talented side out of the teams competing. But we have played them before at this level and all of the players are aware that we will have to be at our very best to overcome them. But we?re all looking forward to it and as long as everybody does their job and we play as a unit, I?m sure we will do very well.?

Thompson did reveal, however, that the squad would have to do without a number of key players because of school commitments ? including first choice goalkeeper Freddie Hall of St.George?s.

?We would have obviously like to have had a full squad, but school must come first in this instance,? he said. ?But I?m confident in the squad we have assembled. Daniel Johnson will replace Freddie in goal and I personally am happy with him. He did exceptionally well for the Under 17s when he was not even first choice in that squad, so I am sure he will do a good job. But I am emphasising the importance of the team concept to my players and if individuals play well within that framework then that is all well and good.?