Whitmore

Reggae Boyz head coach Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore said the Reggae Boyz will be pulling out all stops tomorrow against the United States (US) in their FIFA World Cup Qualifier (WCQ) at the National Stadium, as they seek to give the nation a special gift on its 50th anniversary of Independence.

The Reggae Boyz have never beaten the US but Whitmore said his charges will be going all out for victory, as they aim to break the jinx.

"We are hard to beat here and we want to maintain that," said Whitmore. "It would just be gift for us if we could win this game especially like how we are celebrating our 50th year."

"We are pretty confident and ready to go," Whitmore said. "We have less than 48 hours to go before the big one against the mighty USA and we are preparing and getting ready to do the job on Friday night."

Whitmore added that the time is now right to beat the USA, and he was confident that the players have what it takes to pull it off.

"They (US) have won their last game against a very tough Mexico team in Mexico and we hope that can return in our favour as well," he said. "We haven't beaten the US in quite a while, just as the US hadn't beaten Mexico in quite a while before their victory the other day."

Whitmore added that he has been studying tapes of the US team and therefore he is expecting a tough encounter from them, despite the absence of their key players London Donovan and Michael Bradley.

"I think we are expecting a tough game and I think that we have to play well and we have to play organised and we have to keep the ball and take our chances," Whitmore said.

qualification game

"We have watched a couple of their games, but those games are friendlies and so there is not much that you can take from those games. But this is a WCQ and so we are expecting to see a different and better-organised US team," Whitmore reasoned.

Jamaica's all-time leading goalscorer Luton Shelton, Ryan Johnson, Omar Cummings, Dane Richards, Tremaine Stewart, and Major League Soccer Rookie of the Year candidate Darren Mattocks are the striking options.

The midfield will be led by new Leeds recruit Rudolph Austin, Jason Morrison and Jevaughn Watson, while the defence is expected to be marshalled by new Reading signing Adrian Marriappa, Nyron Nosworthy, Shavar Thomas, Dicoy Williams and Jermaine Taylor along with Lovel Palmer.

Goalkeeper Dwayne Miller is expected to don the goalkeeping gloves in the absence of Donovan Ricketts, who was not called up for the fixture.