We arrived at the Fiesta Inn in Periferico Sur, Mexico City at 2:04am Friday morning after traveling for over 10 hours via Panama from Kingston on Copa Airways on a 3:32pm flight. Tired but resolute, short team discussions made way for rest and recovery.
The boys were up at 8am for breakfast, then a 9am registration meeting of all participants, our group was on point. Coach Sydney McFarlane and team co-captain Rojaughn Joseph were featured in 10am Press Conferences to fulfill promotional duties. A short rest gave way to a scheduled training session at 2pm on small artificial fields outside the parking lot of the world-renowned Azteca Stadium . Lunch followed in our designated mini-bus, branded with the nice touch of our club logo.
A 4pm match coordination meeting was conducted to advise on all the appropriate procedures, new stipulations and medical steps that have been implemented to cope with the latest issues in our sport. It was good to meet many new team officials, greet other teams including Caribbean neighbours San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad and Tobago, all while seeing Head of Competitions in CONCACAF, Horace Reid.
Dinner and team meeting completed a really full day. We gave praise as we gained twice as much time to recover from traveling than last year, where we played our first game just hours after landing. We will kick-off the tournament on Saturday morning at 9am against local Mexican club Hermosillo FC, and we’ll be seeking a positive result.