Jamaica’s young Reggae Boyz moved one step closer to a historic Fifa men’s Under-20 World Cup qualification after bettering nine-man Caribbean neighbours Haiti 2-1 in a closely contested round-of-16 encounter in Honduras on Sunday.

Goals from the country’s leading scorer Jahmari Clarke (fourth), with his third of the tournament, and Tarick Ximinies (83rd) were enough to propel the Marcel Gayle-coached Boyz into the quarter-final in which they will meet the winner of the El Salvador versus Dominican Republic contest.

Steevenson Jeudy, who won the Best Young Player Award at the 2022 Flow Concacaf Caribbean Club Championship with Violette AC and is the tournament’s joint top scorer with five goals, pulled one back for Haiti in the 50th minute.

However, it was always expected to be an uphill battle for the Haitians after losing Captain Fernando Ciceron to a straight red card in the 25th minute, while Dukens Pierre also saw red after two yellow cards in the 37th and 75th minutes at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula.

With this being the first Concacaf Under-20 meeting between the two nations, the Jamaicans might have had very little idea what to expect from the Haitians, but given the French-speaking team’s rampant run in the group stages, they would have expected to have their hands full.

But the Jamaicans — who reached the knockout round by virtue of a third-place finish in Group H — drew first blood when Clarke found the back of the net inside five minutes.

It was a lead they managed to preserve until the break, thanks to the brilliance of goalkeeper and Captain Coniah Boyce-Clarke, who kept out all that was thrown at him by the marauding Haitians, even after they were down to 10 players.

Given their momentum prior to the break, it was only a matter of time before the Haitians capitalised on Jamaica’s shaky defending, and that they did five minutes into the resumption.

Watz Leazard, sporting the number 11 jersey, dazzled Romain Blake with nippy footwork before floating a cross to the far post for Jeudy to expertly head past Boyce-Clarke.

Though they had the numerical advantage, the Jamaicans looked nothing of the sort, instead they were made to absorb pressure from the Haitians, who should have gone ahead had it not been for wayward shooting.

In fact, it wasn’t until the last 20 minutes of the game that the Jamaicans started to assert some semblance of authority and a 70th-minute free kick won by substitute Devonte Campbell almost handed them the go-ahead goal.

However, Haiti’s custodian Willemeson Augustn produced a brilliant save, diving full stretch to his left to keep out the well-taken set play by Christopher Pearson.

And with Haiti losing Pierre five minutes later, the window of opportunity opened even wider for the young Reggae Boyz to snatch victory, and that they did.

A short corner by Campbell to Pearson saw the former Kingston College and Cavalier player dismissing a defender before lifting a left-footed cross into the danger area, and Ximinies was in hand to mop up after Clarke’s initial header fell short of the target.

From there, all that was left for the young Boyz to do was avoid any further danger until full time.

Should the Jamaicans better El Salvador or Dominican Republic they would secure a semi-final berth and with it a spot to the Fifa men’s Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia next year.

The finalists will also secure qualification to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.

— Sherdon Cowa