U-20 Boyz suffer bitter defeat to Guatemala

Miss chances; finish game with 10 men

Sean Williams @ the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Guatemala

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Jamaica's junior Reggae Boyz's dream for a place in their age-group World Cup was thrown in a tailspin when they went crashing to hosts Guatemala in their Group A CONCACAF Under-20 Championship match at the Mateo Flores Stadium here last night.

The visitors went behind in the ninth minute when defender Jhamie Hyde, in an effort to clear the ball, steered it into his own goal.

Guatemala's account was doubled when Gerson Lima took advantage in the 35th of a terrible give-away in the danger area by Jamaica skipper, Sergio Campbell, who was substituted at half-time.

The bitter result now forces Jamaica into a must-win against Honduras in their final preliminary match at the same venue tomorrow.

Though they lacked overall conviction and purpose for the most part, the Jamaicans came alive in the second half and were forced to play with a man short after Hyde picked up his second yellow card and was consequently given his marching orders in the 73rd.

Were it not for their profligacy in front of goal, which has haunted them throughout their three-week training camp in Brazil, the scores could have easily favoured the Jamaican cause. The main culprit for the young Boyz was the man billed as the team's 'top striker', Craig Foster.

He had clearcut chances in the 63rd, 72nd, 77th and 84th minute, but his finishing in the most promising of situations left much to be desired.

He was not alone.

Also missing a decent opportunity in the 26th minute was Neco Brett, who could not beat Guatemala's goalkeeper Jose Morales from 16 yards and who had to watch his shot crash onto the crossbar from that distance.

Substitute Allan Ottey also favoured the woodwork with a powerful blast in the 59th minute and, like the other missed chances, all the situations required were a little finesse.

In the opening match of last night's double header, the United States kickstarted their campaign with a polished 4-0 win over Suriname to take an early lead in Group B, a result which was of great interest for Jamaica, because should they advance to the knockout stage, they will engage opponents from that zone.

The four top finishers of the 12-nation tournament will earn places to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup set for Colombia from July 29 to August 20.

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