Jamaica’s Young Boyz secured the No. 1 seed in the CONCACAF under-20 championships after a draw with Cuba Saturday night in the Caribbean Football Union championship.
The Young Boyz managed to keep the game scoreless after overcoming adversity in the 58th minute of the game. Kareem Manning committed his second offense and was ejected at that point, reducing the team to 10 players.
However, the Young Boyz stepped up their defense and was able to fend off the challenge by the Cubans. They finished as the top team in tournament by virtue of goal difference of seven points after three games. Cuba and Group A winners Haiti had the same.
“It was important that we be the first one, because we know that if we finish ahead of the group, we run away from Mexico, USA and Canada,” Jamaica second-year coach Luciana Gama said. “But running away from them, we know that we are going to find very difficult opponents there, as we found today with Cuba.”
Gama said his team has to make drastic improvements to make it to their second Under-20 Youth World Cup, as it did in 2001.
“We continue looking for players,” he said. “Everybody knows that we some difficulty with money in the federation, so it is not easy for us to keep them in camp. Every Jamaican can be assured that we are going to do what we can to bring in more players to try and improve the group because the base of the team is there.”
The Young Boyz will travel to Puebla, Mexico and compete for a spot in the 2013 FIFA Under-20 Youth World Cup. The qualifying rounds will take place from Feb. 18 to March 2. The 2013 FIFA Under-20 Youth World Cup will be held in Turkey from June 21 to July 13 of 2013.
