HAVING survived a scare in their first outing, Jamaica’s Under-20 footballers will be aiming to really kick-start their CONCACAF Under-20 Championship when they tackle Guatemala inside the National Stadium starting at 8:00 pm today.
In the first game of the triple-header, Trinidad and Tobago play Aruba at 3:00 pm before the United States of America take on Panama at 5:00 pm.
Following their 4-0 mauling of Aruba, Panama lead Group A with three points ahead of Jamaica, T&T, USA and Guatemala, all on one point each. Aruba are pointless after one round.
Jamaica were scheduled to have a training session at Waterhouse Mini-Stadium last evening and head coach Theodore Whitmore was expected to use the opportunity to assess each player to see how they came out of the first match against T&T.
Whitmore pulled US-based striker Michael Seaton at the start of the second half due to discomfort in his back.
“Michael was feeling some back pain and he got a slight knock in the game, so I didn’t want to push him too much because we are looking at the games coming up,” Whitmore explained.
Jamaica enter the game against Guatemala knowing they must improve on a woeful display against T&T in order to keep their dreams alive of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in May.
Guatemala proved against USA that they will not be easily beaten and although they didn’t get too many chances against the Americans, they were organised enough to suggest that Jamaica will have to work hard to break them down.
Meanwhile, early group leader Panama’s mettle will be severely tested when they play group favourites USA. One American commentator said during the Guatemala match that the Panama/US game was the crucial match in the group that could possibly decide the group winner.
In the first encounter of the day, Caribbean champion T&T, still smarting from letting a two-goal advantage slip, should prove too much for a weak-looking Aruba unit.
– H Walker
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