Jamaica’s coach Andrew Edwards believes the new format of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship will make it harder for Caribbean teams to qualify for the age-group World Cup.

He also embraces the view that the new system, in essence, will run counter from a development standpoint for all weaker nations of the sub-continental grouping.

Next year’s tournament will be played in a new format, where the top two teams from each of the three groups of the first phase will advance to what has been called the Classification Stage.

That second phase will be contested by six teams in two groups from which the four Confederation representatives will be decided after round-robin play.

In the 2015 CONCACAF finals in Honduras, the teams competed in two groups of six, with each group winner automatically qualifying for the Under-17 FIFA World Cup in Chile.

The second- and third-placed teams are then seeded in a four-team group in a one-off play-off with the winners completing the frame for the four qualifiers to the FIFA showpiece.

Jamaica lost 5-4 on penalties in that final play-off game to the USA who progressed. The Young Boyz had defeated the USA 1-0 in Group A of the preliminaries, finishing second to winners Honduras. The USA were third.

“In the last campaign the tournament format was different and it has now been changed, and certainly Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean teams are at the worst end of the stick of this change. Looking at it at face value it seems that there will be a quick elimination of the Caribbean teams if we don’t put our acts together, and perform outside of what we have been doing as a region,” Edwards said.

Speaking to the

Jamaica Observer shortly after the draw on Tuesday night for the CONCACAF finals scheduled for Panama April 21-May 7, Edwards is of the view that the new format, for the most part, hinders development for weaker nations.

“Certainly from a developmental standpoint, it’s a backward step that CONCACAF has taken as the format last time afforded all teams at least five games, but this format will only allow the top six (teams) five games, and so it would indicate that the usual powerhouses will be the ones benefiting from the developmental shift.

“So for us in the Caribbean, in particular, we will miss out, as usually we don’t get to the World Cup and we will only be guaranteed to play three games while the teams that can afford to play practice match on top of practice match and tournaments on top of tournaments are getting to play five and six games. This is a huge disappointment,” noted Edwards.

But while the new format may be seen as not having great benefits for Jamaica and other Caribbean teams, Edwards says it provides a smoother path to qualifying if the dice of a good group rolls in one’s favour.

“Certainly in terms of qualification this (format) is a little easier if you are in a good group. Certainly like a Haiti for example have a fantastic chance if they can perform creditably as they are in a group that is quite winnable, and once they win that group, they will have a chance in the play-off round.

“I think it can be seen as an easier passage, but unfortunately for Jamaica we got a really tough group, and so getting out of the group will be much more difficult, but if we do get to the play-offs, we will have a chance of getting to the World Cup.”

At a draw event at the Sheraton Grand Panama on Tuesday night, Jamaica were drawn with CONCACAF powerhouses USA and Mexico and Central American outfit El Salvador.

Group A will be contested by Panama, Haiti, Honduras and Curacao, while Group B is made up of Costa Rica, Cuba, Suriname and Canada.

The FIFA Under-17 World Cup will be played in India next August.

To their credit, Jamaica have qualified for two Under-17 World Cups — New Zealand in 1999 and Mexico 2011.

— Sean Williams