Jamaica’s Under-17s look to lift CFU title

From left: Boys’ Town’s coach Andrew Price, captain and goalkeeper Kirk Porter, and Portmore United’s general manager, Clive Marshall, at yesterday’s Red Stripe Premier League press conference at Red Stripe’s Spanish Town Road offices in Kingston WITH THEIR place in the CONCACAF final round secured, Jamaica’s Under-17 footballers will now focus their attention on winning the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) championship now under way in Trinidad and Tobago.

The young Reggae Boyz finished second in Group A on goal difference behind Haiti after two wins and a draw, to take one of the five available CONCACAF finalround spots for CFU teams after advancing to the semi-finals on Wednesday.

However, the Andrew Edwards-coached team will have it all to do against Cuba, who were three wins from as many matches in Group B.

“We are very happy, elated,” Edwards told The Gleaner. “Our dream of playing in the World Cup is still alive. We have given ourselves the most important chance because we have now qualified for the CONCACAF stage, where the qualifiers will be decided to go to India. Now we have the opportunity to do that, and we have to use the time between now and then to prepare,” he said.

Edwards says their two remaining games will be used to continue their preparation for the CONCACAF round, but he remains confident of getting a win against the high-riding Cubans and close out the championship with the title.

“We have two more games, and those two games will form our preparation for the CONCACAF stage. We want to win the tournament,” he insisted. “We want to win the semi-finals and go on and win the final to continue our growth and development as a team. So we are still very motivated and still very confident of getting something much more out of the tournament now that we have qualified for the CONCACAF stage,” he said.

EDWARDS