CATHERINE HALL, St James — Two-time defending champions Mexico will open the defence of their CONCACAF men’s Under-20 title today when they face Cuba in the first game of a Group B triple-header at the Montego Bay Sports Complex starting at 3:00 pm.

Twelve teams, six playing in Montego Bay and another six in Kingston, are vying for the four places in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup later this year in New Zealand.

The winners of either group will automatically qualify for the World Cup, while the runners-up and third-placed teams will be seeded into a play-off pool for the last two CONCACAF slots in New Zealand.

Also today at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, Honduras play El Salvador starting at 5:30 pm, while Canada take on Haiti in the 8:00 pm game.

Mexico, the most successful team in this event with 12 titles since 1962, are expected to win Group B and make a 14th World Cup appearance, while two-time champions Canada are expected to be contenders for one of the four spots on offer.

No CONCACAF team has ever won the FIFA title, however, and there are hopes that this could change this year when the teams gather in the southern hemisphere.

Mexico have a mainly local- based team with just one player, Jesse Gonzalez, based overseas, at the FC Dallas Academy in the MLS.

Nineteen-year-old Jose Garcia of Mexican club Tijuana who made his senior team debut last year, will be the player to watch and who could give the Cubans some headaches.

Canada are coming off a good result, holding England to a draw in London in their final warm-up game and will test Haiti with their direct style of football, running at the defenders.

Eighteen-year-old striker Jordan Hamilton, who is a professional with the MLS outfit Toronto FC and has played for the senior national team, will be the man expected to lead the attack.

The responsibility will not be new to him as he had scored the decisive goal in a 4-2 win over Jamaica two years ago to send Canada to the Under-17 World Cup finals.