Jamaica to kick off against US
Published: Saturday | January 24, 2009
On the schedule that was announced on Thursday, Jamaica will tackle the US on opening day, March 6, in the second match of a Group A double-header at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago.
The Americans have qualified 11 times for FIFA's U20 World Championship including the last six.
The match follows the series opener between El Salvador and either Honduras or S Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).
Honduras and SVG will face each other in a two-leg play-off for the last berth in the eight-team series that will decide the confederation's four qualifiers for the FIFA U20 World Championship.
Honduras finished third in Central American qualifying, while SVG finished runners-up to Jamaica in the Caribbean zone.
On the second day of the series on March 7, Mexico will play Costa Rica and hosts Trinidad and Tobago meet Canada in Group B at Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya, Trinidad.
Training camp
The US, who travelled this week to Trinidad and Tobago for a one-week acclimatisation training camp, will play again on Sunday, March 8, against Honduras/SVG while the Jamaicans meet El Salvador.
The last Group A matches on Tuesday, March 10, will see Jamaica facing Honduras/SVG and the USA meeting El Salvador.
The second set of Group B matches will be Canada against Mexico and T&T facing Costa Rica on March 9 and the first-round closes two days later when Costa Rica meet Canada and T&T tackle the Mexicans.
After the USA, Mexico are the second-most successful of all CONCACAF nation, making it 10 times to the FIFA U20 Cham-pionship. Jamaica had beaten SVG 2-0 to top the Caribbean zone.
El Salvador won the Central American tournament to earn their place in T&T while the USA, Canada and Mexico qualified for the final round automatically, along with hosts Trinidad & Tobago.
Semi-finals
The top two in each group will advance to the semi-finals on March 13 with the final and third-place matches two days later.
The March 6-15 event is the first time since 1996 that CONCACAF will contest the qualifier for the U20 World Cup as a championship in a single country.
The four semi-finalists will qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cham-pionship in Egypt from September 23 to October 16.
Schedule
Friday, March 6
Honduras/SVG v El Salvador
Jamaica v USA
Saturday, March 7
Mexico v Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago v Canada
Sunday, March 8
El Salvador v Jamaica
US v Honduras/SVG
Monday, March 9
Canada v Mexico
Trinidad & Tobago v Costa Rica
Tuesday, March 10
Jamaica v Honduras/SVG
US v El Salvador
Wednesday, March 11
Costa Rica v Canada
Trinidad & Tobago v Mexico
Friday, March 13
Semi-final 1
Semi-final 2
Sunday, March 15
Third-place match
Final
