November 26 – The reggae beat is pounding out through Jamaican football at the moment. At their home tournament the Reggae Boyz triumphed in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over long-time rivals Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month. In January, the Jamaicans kick off the CONCACAF football year with the hosting of the U20 Championships.
The CFU win catapults the Jamaicans into the special 2016 US edition of the Copa America Centenario, the 100th anniversary of the South American Championships. Six teams from CONCACAF plus the 10 South American nations will compete in a competition that will overlap in timing with UEFA’s Euros in France.
Jamaica had earlier qualified for next summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup and the wins will help push the country back up the FIFA rankings – they are currently at 113th. It is their first championship win since 2010 and the first under German coach Theodore Whitmore.
The 2015 CONCACAF U20 Championship starts January 9, at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, in Montego Bay, St James with 12 teams competing for four places in the FIFA World Cup. The draw was held during the CFU Championships last month.
The teams will play in two groups of six. Group A features hosts Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba, Panama, United States and Guatemala while the Group B teams are Haiti, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Honduras and El Salvador.
The National Stadium in Kingston and the Montego Bay Sports Complex will host Group A matches, with the opening game to be played in Kingston on January 9. The Montego Bay Sports Complex hosts all the action in Group B, and the final phase on January 24, when the Confederation crowns the champion.
The top team from each group qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup, and the second and third place nations from each group advance to the final day knockout phase, with the chance to play for CONCACAF’s other two World Cup spots.
With this edition CONCACAF has changed the U-20 tournament format to increase the number of guaranteed games for each participant to five, up from two in the previous editions. Mexico is the current two-time defending CONCACAF Under-20 champion.
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