Stunning free kick eliminates U20 Boyz

GUATEMALA CITY (CMC):

A superb long-range free kick sent Jamaica tumbling from the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship on Thursday night, as they went down 2-1 to Honduras.

With the contest evenly balanced at 1-1, Alexander Lopez blasted in a 77th minute strike from the right side to hand the Hondurans victory.

The loss was Jamaica's second, following their 2-0 defeat to Guatemala in their opening match on Tuesday.

In the night's other game, Panama trounced Suriname 3-0, with Cecilio Waterman scoring a hat-trick with strikes in the 36th, 60th and 68th minutes.

Jamaica, needing a win to advance to the quarter-finals, looked lively in the opening moments with Ricardo Morris forcing a finger-tip save out of custodian Marlon Licona in the 21st minute.

Minutes earlier, Hon-duras thought they had taken the lead when Ever Alvarado converted a free-flowing move, only for the goal to be waved off for offside.

There was no such misfortune in Jamaica's next attack, however, as Neco Brett picked up a ball outside the box and drove a fierce long-range shot past Licona.

Honduras then took charge of the game, with Antony Lozano twice missing from close range and the Jamaica defence forced to scramble away loose balls on a couple of occasions.

Alvarado got the equaliser in the 61st minute, capping off a well-worked move. Nestor Martinez sent a corner kick into the area for Lopez to head to the near post, where Alvarado made no mistake from close range.

With 13 minutes left in the encounter, Lopez took matters into his own hands to crush Jamaica's hopes.