GROUP leaders Jamaica will seek a third-straight win when they wrap up their Group C schedule against Curacao at the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-14 Boys Tier 1 Challenge Series in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, this afternoon.

Jamaica, the defending champions, are coming off a tough 1-0 win over 10-man Aruba thanks to Christian Foster’s strike on Tuesday. The Jamaicans had defeated St Kitts & Nevis 4-0 in Monday’s opening game.

Vassell Reynolds, Jamaica’s head coach, says the plan is to keep trying to get better.

“We want to use that game to continue to improve in all areas of play. The focus is to keep up the momentum,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

Jamaica lead the group with six points, followed by St Kitts & Nevis (three) who beat Curacao 4-2 on Tuesday. Curacao and Aruba are on one point each.

Curacao have so far conceded five goals and scored three in their two games, while Jamaica have scored five and are yet to concede.

Vassell said his team rose to the occasion on Tuesday.

“The result was a much-deserved one,” he said. “The reaction to lift their performance against a pretty decent and stubborn Aruba Team was a good one.”

He pointed to the physical approach of the Aruban team, with the referee dishing out multiple cards, including a red to Sebastian Wever — his second yellow after entering the game in the second half.

“We were a little surprised, somewhat,” Reynolds admitted. “We thought, based on the little we saw of them, that they were pretty well organised and rely on their technical competence, but once it got physical we know we were up to the task.”

The coach said that despite scoring only one goal, there were improvements.

“Overall, in most areas we were good — much better than the game [on Monday]. Defensively, we wanted to be disciplined for the entire game, and I am pretty satisfied with that bit. There [is] still some work to be done in our final phase of play, especially.”

Aruba were off to a fast start to the encounter, earning three straight corners in the first five minutes of the game, and also hit the cross bar. But that was as close as they came as the Jamaican defence held its own.

After failing to score in the first half — the first time they were held scoreless in any half over the past two tournaments — Jamaica, who made two changes to their starting team from Monday, began better in the second half.

Foster, who came off the bench at the start of the second half, was left unguarded in the middle of the Aruban defence and finished off a good team movement, firing past goalkeeper Deymar Mercado Carrillo six minutes into the second half after a cheeky, back-heeled pass from Tai-Sean Headley.

— Paul A Reid