Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Olivia Grange hugs Reggae Boyz captain Ricardo Gardner shortly after she presented him with a sponsorship cheque of $10 million at the Jamaica Football Federation office at St Lucia Avenue, New Kingston, yesterday. Gardner's teammates Damion Stewart (right) and Claude Davis look on. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Jamaica's Reggae Boyz received a big $10-million boost from the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) ahead of their departure for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States yesterday.

Minister of Sports Olivia Grange, accompanied by SDF Chairman Davis Mais, handed over the cheque to Reggae Boyz captain Ricardo Gardner at the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) office on St Lucia Avenue.

Grange told The Gleaner after the handover that she was delighted to assist the Reggae Boyz in their time of need.

Lack of sponsors

"They needed the support because they are really strapped in terms of their programmes because they didn't make it to the World Cup," said Grange. She added that because of the non-qualification, sponsorship was proving hard to get.

"If we did not step in and give the support, they would have had difficulties making it to the Gold Cup," Grange said.

"We felt this is important and we have to give support to our national teams and we have to give support to the JFF because they need it in order to ensure that they continue to succeed on the international stage."

Meanwhile, Gardner said he was very optimistic his team could win this year's Gold Cup tournament.

"The team is very confident because I think that we have the players and the staff to go out there and deliver the work that we know we can do and hopefully this can bring us great rewards at the end," said Gardner.

"We have to see the Gold Cup like it is our World Cup because we missed out on this one and so we have to approach it with great expectations," said Gardner, who plies his trade in England's Barclays Premier League for Bolton Wanderers.

Good chemistry

Gardner added that they are not overconfident but the players are developing a good chemistry and are determined to go as far as they can in the competition.

"I think that Costa Rica are going to be one of our main dangers but we just have to keep our discipline and be patient and hopefully we get the required results against them," said Gardner.

The Jamaicans are drawn in Group A alongside Costa Rica, Canada and El Salvador. Group B comprises Grenada, United States, Haiti and Honduras, and Group C includes Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guadeloupe.

Jamaica's squad: goalkeepers - Donovan Ricketts, Dwayne Miller; Defenders - Ricardo Gardner, Ian Goodison, Claude Davis, Damion Stewart, Tyrone Marshall, Eric Vernan, Rafe Wolfe; Midfielders - Demar Phillips, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Jermaine Johnson, Jason Morrison, Rodolph Austin, Oneil Thompson; Forwards - Ricardo Fuller, Luton Shelton, Dane Richards, Nicholas Addlery and Omar Cummings.

First round schedule (Ja times)

July 3: Jamaica vs Canada at 7 p.m.

July 7: Jamaica vs Costa Rica at 6 p.m.

July 10: Jamaica vs El Salvador at 8 p.m.