Jamaica made history when they qualified for the 1998 World Cup Finals in France.

Now the Caribbean island are bidding to relive that momentous occasion by qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

And the Reggae Boyz, the first English-speaking Caribbean nation ever to qualify for football?s premier showpiece, have pinned their hopes on the current Under-23 national squad that toured Bermuda last week.

Jamaica?s youngsters, missing seven key regulars, drew 1-1 with Bermuda?s senior national team and then lost 1-0 against professional outfit New England Revolution, playing at the Under-23 level as a unit for the first time ever.

Jamaica headed back to the Caribbean on Sunday morning where squad members were scheduled to undergo post-tour physical and medical observations and a visit to the nutritionist before resuming weekly training at the national football academy located in Kingston and representing their local clubs on weekends.

Jamaican coach Wendell Downswell makes no secret of the fact he has set high goals and standards for his young charges.

?This is serious business because this team will play an integral part in Jamaica?s 2010 World Cup plans and a number of these youngsters have been campaigning in the senior national team,? said the 47-year-old Downswell.

?We have a squad of 38 players with at least 11 of them who have been campaigning with the senior team thus far. And this speaks volumes because some of them started at the tender age of 18 and were a part of last year?s Digicel Cup winning squad.

?When the players return they will do a general medical test and then the nutritionist will instruct them on nutritional value and what they need to do in order to achieve maximum performance. These players are very devoted and our goal is to provide the best for them.

?What we also intend to do with them when we get back home is to analyse them and provide them with individual programmes so sometimes when they are not with us they can continue to work on their own, especially in terms of their technical capacity and physical conditions.?

With their brief tour of Bermuda now over, the young Jamaica team have also set themselves short term goals of qualifying for next year?s Pan American Games in Brazil and medalling at July?s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Columbia and the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

The Jamaicans are scheduled to compete against Surinam and Dominican Republic in their Pan American Games qualifier in April.

?We are looking very much forward to the upcoming assignment because our preparations will take us right along up to the 2010 World Cup campaign,? added Downswell. ?This team has the capacity to medal at the CAC Games and we are also looking at possibly touring Central America and England.

?These are logistics we are currently looking into to provide the players with the necessary exposure and experience.?

The bulk of Jamaica?s current Under-23 national team ? who have been playing together for the past five years ? competed against Bermuda during the 2004 Under-20 World Cup qualifiers in the Caribbean and have already toured Germany twice.

The average age of Downswell?s squad is 20.

?Most of these players are not in school and play for their Premier League clubs back home,? the coach added. ?What we do is we take them from Monday and carry them until Friday of each week at the Football Player?s Residence (football academy) in Kingston.

?The whole staff is there to work with the players until the weekend.?

While the Under-23s and Under-20s have the weekend off, the academy?s coaching staff are still kept busy putting the Under-17 national squad through their paces.

?This is a facility where we have various coaches and staff to host 25 players,? Downswell explained. ?We have a member of staff who permanently stays with the players and also a chef.?

All players at the academy train twice daily at 6.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

?Sometimes we allow them to leave early Thursday morning, but that all depends on the quality of work they put in,? Downswell said. ?If not, they stay until Friday morning and then finish off. So sometimes we have up to eight training sessions per week pertaining to physical, tactical and technical work. And having these players over for an extended period of time enables us to monitor them more closely.?

As for last week?s two-game tour of the Island, Downswell remained convinced it was a worthwhile venture. ?It was a tremendous experience for the guys,? he said.