Costa Rica, US favoured to qualify

WESTERN BUREAU:

Favourites the United States of America will be among four teams hunting two places in this summer's FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico, when the 2011 CONCACAF Under-17 Champion-ship moves into its quarter-final phase, with a double-header at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall, St James, this afternoon.

The United States, which topped Group B of the tournament's first round with a 100 per cent win record, will take on Group A runners-up El Salvador in the day's feature game at 3 p.m.

In the midday opening game, Group A winners Costa Rica will match skills with Group B's second-place finisher, Panama.

While the United States' coach, Wilmer Cabrera, has had mixed feelings about the performance of his team in their 3-1 and 1-0 wins against Cuba and Panama, he remains unwavering in his confidence that they will secure one of the four World Cup qualifying places on offer in this tournament.

Some improvement shown

"We had a bad opening game against Cuba, but showed some improvement against Panama and we hope to keep getting better with each game," said Cabrera, who was critical of the MoBay Complex surface after the game against Cuba.

"We see this game as being 90 minutes away from a place in the World Cup and we are confident we will get there," he added.

El Salvador, which qualified for the quarter-finals after the controversial withdrawal of the malaria-stricken Haitian team, gave a fair performance in a 3-2 loss to Costa Rica and according to coach Victor Pacheco, they intend to report in peak form for the Americans.

"The United States is a tactically sound team, but we will be well prepared and ready for them," said Pacheco. "We were not as tight in midfield as we should have been against Costa Rica, but we intend to improve in that area ... we are coming to give everything we have got."

In their curtain-raiser, the red-hot Costa Rica with the tournament's leading striker, John Ruiz, should start favourites against Panama, which looked ordinary in their first round 0-0 draw against Cuba and 1-0 loss to the United States.

Outlining their expectations, Costa Rica'scoach Luiz Diego Arnaez said that following his team's 3-1 win against Haiti and a resolute 3-2 win against El Salvador, the level of confidence is extremely high in their camp.

"We are happy with the way the team is playing and we are very confident that we will qualify for the World Cup," said coach Arnaez. "We are expecting a good game from Panama, but we will be ready for them."

Panama, which missed a penalty in their 0-0 draw against Cuba and only showed few glimpses of good form in their 1-0 loss to the United States, are nonetheless quite hopeful.

"We did not fully extend ourselves against the US because we knew a draw or a 1-0 defeat was all we needed to get into the quarter-finals," said Panama's coach, Jorge Dely-Valdez. "Now it is a must-win situation against Costa Rica, so our approach will be different."