Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Boyz have been drawn in tough Group C for the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship in Panama, pitted against confederation giants the USA and Mexico.

At a glitzy draw at the Sheraton Grand Panama in Panama City on Tuesday night, the Young Boyz’s worst fears were realised when they were stacked in Group C with their nemeses. In the four-team group, they will also have Central American outfit El Salvador, seen as a less daunting opponent.

Looking to the Panama tournament slated for April 21-May 7, 2017, the Young Boyz will open against the USA on April 23, three days later they face El Salvador, followed by Mexico on April 29.

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 tournament will be played in a new format, where the top two teams from each group of the first phase advance to the Classification Stage, from which the four Confederation representatives will be decided in a round-robin play-off of two groups of three teams each.

Jamaica’s Under-17 coach Andrew Edwards, speaking from Panama City immediately after the draw, admitted to the enormity of the task, but remained hopeful that his boys “could spring a few surprises”.

“Drawn in Group C alongside CONCACAF powerhouses the USA and Mexico is certainly a very daunting task and it will make our passage to the FIFA World Cup very difficult if we can be successful any at all.

“However, it is football and I believe that we have the capacity to develop our team sufficiently… and certainly we will be targeting the first game against the USA, a team against which we have lost two practice matches recently, but we will be determined to get a positive result from that game and try to propel ourselves forward from there,” he told the

Jamaica Observer.

In the case of the USA, Jamaica were clearly second-best in two practice games in Kingston last month against the North Americans, going down 0-3 and 0-4.

“This easily is the group of death, a very difficult group and one in which we have to perform above and beyond anything we have done so far to get something out of those two games against the USA and Mexico.

“Certainly, the USA and Mexico are two of the powerhouses of CONCACAF, with the USA having missed qualifying for the World Cup only once in 2013, and Mexico have won the World Cup at least two or three times. El Salvador is the only team that we may have the best chance to have a solid victory against,” Edwards said, sizing up the competition.

Even in the face of the realities, the Jamaica coach remained upbeat.

“I believe we have an opportunity and miracles do happen as David did slay Goliath and we have performed well against the USA in the previous campaign.

“Despite those losses in the practice games, I believe we have an outstanding chance to spring a surprise, and if we can prepare very well for that first game against the USA and come with a performance beyond what we have come with so far, I am certain we can deliver a positive result,” he noted.

Edwards, fully aware of the overall strength of the USA team in particular, draws inspiration from his team’s 1-0 victory over the Americans in the 2015 campaign.

“Notwithstanding, we had the USA in our group the last time and we had two creditable performances against them, but obviously they have changed a lot since then, and we have changed our entire team as well, barring the coaches, so it is going to be a totally different ball game altogether.

“We had two practice games against them and they totally dominated us in pretty much every department and since then they have defeated Brazil (3-0), Portugal (7-1) and Turkey (5-1) in the Nike tournament that was held recently in Florida, so we know that they are a powerful team which is technically and tactically very disciplined and physically supreme.

“We know we will just have to perform out of our skins, so to speak, in order to get a positive result, but I don’t believe it is beyond us,” Edwards said.

The Boyz coach, in his second cycle in charge, said the Americans were obviously delighted they have drawn Jamaica, an indication of their lack of respect.

“Speaking with the US people after the draw tonight (Tuesday), they seemed very pleased that they drew us in their group and they seemed very confident, almost cocky if you prefer, and I think that may play into our hands if we can get ourselves together,” Edwards ended.

Jamaica, who have qualified for the 1999 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in New Zealand and Mexico in 2011, are seeking qualification number three to the India tournament next year.