Ricketts pleased with ruthless U20 Reggae Boyz

Jamaica’s Under-20 men’s football team will be seeking their fourth consecutive victory in the Concacaf U20 Qualifiers when they take on St Kitts and Nevis in their Round One Group B encounter at the Stadion Rignaal ‘Jean’ Francisca in Willemstad, Curaçao, today. Match time is 7 p.m.

The junior Reggae Boyz have been dominant in the competition so far and are coming off the resounding 9-0 victory over the Cayman Islands in their last outing on Friday. The Jamaicans, who have scored 19 goals in the tournament, are yet to concede and currently lead the group with a maximum nine points on goal difference ahead of Puerto Rico, who are also unbeaten after three matches.

The Rudolph Austin-coached team were propelled to their emphatic win over the Cayman Islands courtesy of a hat trick from substitute Jahmarie Nolan.

President of the Jamaica Football Federation, Michael Ricketts, said he has been impressed with the team’s performance and expects them to maintain their high standard.

“I think that we have been doing very well and I am expecting us to continue that against this St Kitts and Nevis team on Sunday,” said Ricketts. “I read an article which said we have scored the most goals by any team in the qualifiers so far, which is 19.

“I think that they have exceeded my expectations and I just hope that we stay on track because we have comfortably led the zone,” he said.

“We have two games remaining and we want to win both games. Once we top the group then we head to the final round of qualifiers and hopefully we will be drawn in a group that is manageable,” Ricketts added.

Meanwhile, St Kitts and Nevis are currently third in the group with four points from their three matches, having registered one win, one draw and one defeat. They have scored five goals while conceding three.

The group winners will advance to the Concacaf Men’s U20 Championship, where they will join the six pre-seeded teams from across the region.

The Concacaf U20 Championships will be used for qualification to the 2027 U20 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.