U20 Boyz look to rebound at Concacaf Championship

Jamaica's Under-20 team will look to rebound from their humiliating 9-0 defeat by the United States in their opening match of the Concacaf Under-20 Championship when they take on Costa Rica in a Group A at the Estadio Miguel Aleman Valdes, Celaya, today at 6 p.m.

The young Reggae Boyz sit at the foot of the standings while the US lead the early charge on three points, followed by Costa Rica and Cuba with a point each.

The Americans outclassed the young Reggae Boyz on Friday. They led 4-0 after just 20 minutes with forward David Vasquez (2nd and 3rd minutes) and midfielder Pedro Soma (16th and 20th) getting two goals each. They were 5-0 up at half-time as Cruz Medina scored in the 39th minute.

After the break Marcos Zambrano (54th), Ruben Ramos (67th), Nimfasha Berchimas (77th) and Niko Tsakiris (90th) scored for the Americans.

The Jerome Waite-coached team will be aiming for a better result against the Costa Ricans, who did not impress in their 1-1 draw with Cuba.

Even if the young Reggae Boyz do not get all three points today, a draw against Costa Rica would keep them in the hunt for a second-round berth as a top three finish in the group could still see them advance. The top two teams from each of the three groups and the two best third-place teams will advance to the quarterfinals.

In their last head-to-head clash, Jamaica and Costa Rica played to a 1-1 draw in the Concacaf Championship in 2022. Jahmari Clarke scored for Jamaica in the 90th minute after Doryan Rodriguez had given the Central Americans the lead in the 58th minute.

The young Reggae Boyz are scheduled to play their final group game against Cuba on Thursday.

In matches played in Group B on Saturday night Honduras and Canada drew 2-2 while El Salvador clipped Dominican Republic 1-0. In an early Group C match played yesterday Panama blanked Guatemala 3-0.