Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Donovan Duckie, head coach of the national Under 20 team, has expressed satisfaction with their preparation ahead of the Caribbean Football Union World Cup qualifying final round, in St Vincent and the Grenadines next week.

The young Reggae Boyz, who closed out a series of practice games with a 2-2 draw with Tivoli Gardens at the Edward Seaga Stadium on Thursday, will face St Vincent, Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the final round.

The national team previously beat Portmore United 3-0 and played their way to a 0-0 draw with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). In Thursday's game, Levaughn Williams and Alanzo Adlam got the goals for the Under 20s, while Navion Boyd and Roland Dean scored for Tivoli.

Pleased

Having chosen teams believed to best mirror characteristics in their upcoming opponents, Duckie, while believing there is still some work to be done, is pleased with their progress so far.

"I am fairly pleased with where the team is at this point. We have three games in this phase of the qualifiers and the matches chosen were geared to finding opponents with similar playing styles to those teams.

"For the most part the guys have put up a good showing and we will be ready come next week," he said.

The national team booked its place in the final round with 4-1 victories over Antigua and Barbuda and a 4-0 win over Aruba, topping group B when the tournament's penultimate round was played in Aruba in November.

The winner of the final round will earn an automatic berth to the CONCACAF under-20 finals in Trinidad & Tobago along with the host, Canada, Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and El Salvador.

The final place in the eight-team championship will be determined in a play-off between the Caribbean runners-up and Honduras.

"We are confident going into this round and I think our level of competitiveness will rise significantly. I am optimistic, it's left to the guys but we will be prepared and I think once we are focused we will pull through," Duckie said.

"It means a lot to all of us, a lot to the federation. It's the only tournament that we still have a chance to qualify for a World Cup from so we are putting our best foot forward," he added.

The final squad is expected to be announced in the next few days.