By the way I am glad Hunt is not making excuses......
QUOTE
Yesterday, Costa Rica trained inside the National Stadium and journalists were surprised at the physical build of the Central Americans, but Hunt was not intimidated.
Edited by LINCOLN (04/27/0703:12 PM)
_________________________ "Victory" in wars are never about who is right or wrong but more about who is left standing.
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Costa Rica favoured to clinch spot published: Saturday | April 28, 2007
HAVING TOPPED competitive Central American Zone in the last round, many regard Costa Rica as legitimate contenders to secure a place at this summer's Under-17 World Cup in South Korea.
'The Ticos', as they are affec-tionately called by their fans, booked one of the two spots awarded to Central America when they beat out hosts El Salvador for the Centroamericana de F?tbol (UNCAF) Cup. Costa Rica finished ahead of El Salvador on goal difference, stopping the tournament's hosts 2-0 in the final game. Despite a loss to Panama in the earlier rounds, Costa Rica notched some impressive results including a 5-0 drubbing of Guatemala and a 5-1 pounding of Nicaragua. Many see the Costa Ricans as favourites to book a place in the World Cup by snatching the runners-up or even the top spot in Group B. The Ticos were the first team from Central America to take part in the 1985 FIFA Under-16 World Championship in China. Since then, Costa Rica have qualified for five more World Cups, the most by any team from Central America. The Costa Ricans are coached by Manuel Gerardo Urea.
The Squad: Leonel Moreira, Roy Smith, Juan Monge, Esteban Luna, Daniel Varela, Michael Jimnez, David Guzman, Julio Ibarra, Jorge Alejandro Castro, Marcos Ure-a, BrunoCastro, Erick Rojas, Bryan Oviedo, Miguel Brenes
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One thing about our u17 teams is they are fighters, Canada certainly had an impressive start. The key now is winning and goal difference. I expect the USA to win today against TNT, so maybe CR can Canada draw
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CONCACAF Group B Final Round Qualifying - Kingston, Jamaica Team GP W L T GF GA GD Pts. CAN 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 3 CRC 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 3 TRI 1 0 1 0 0 2 -2 0 JAM 1 0 1 0 0 3 -3 0 USA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Saturday, April 28 Trinidad & Tobago 0, Costa Rica 2 Jamaica 0, Canada 3
Monday, April 30 Costa Rica vs. Canada USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago
Wednesday, May 2 USA vs. Canada Jamaica vs. Costa Rica
Friday, May 4 Canada vs. Trinidad & Tobago USA vs. Jamaica
Sunday, May 6 USA vs. Costa Rica Jamaica vs. Trinidad & Tobago
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Bredrin,
I have always commended the team spirit of our u17 teams but let us remember that Costa Rica, Canada, Trinidad and USA have plenty of talent also. It is going to take more than "talent" to make it to the U17 World Cup.
A tie with Canada means wi affi tek it to JA come Wednesday. A no nuttin, blame di schedule. I was hoping we would beat Canada today and not need fi beat JA. Then again mi change mi mind, unnu too feisty and outta order, ah predict (wish) seh mi team finish out of the top 3 and some even ah talk bout last place. All CRica does is travel around CONCACAF, since dem no lo us fi host no tournament, kicking a$$es and placing in tournaments at all levels and unnu still have di nerve fi bet gainst wi.
_______________________________________________________ "Minds are like parachutes. They only work when open."
Draw keeps Canada and Costa Rica on top published: Tuesday | May 1, 2007
Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Costa Rica and Canada played to a tame 0-0 draw in their CONCACAF Under-17 Group B World Cup qualifier at the National Stadium last night, to remain at the top of the five-team group with four points apiece.
Both Canada and Costa Rica recorded 3-0 and 2-0 victories over Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago respectively on Saturday and are a win away from qualification.
With three of the five teams qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in South Korea in August, on Wednesday when the competition resumes Canada will be playing their third straight game against the United States of America (USA), while Costa Rica tackle Jamaica.
In front of a relatively small crowd at the stadium, Costa Rica took control early and were never really tested and proved they will be a hard nut to crack for the remainder of the tournament.
Skilful and tricky players
Costa Rica, with the likes of Diego Brenes, David Guzman, Jorge Castro, Roy Smith, Esteban Luna and Erick Rojas were too skilful and tricky for their Canadian counterparts.
But Canada might have been playing to a plan, knowing that a draw against Costa Rica would have been a major result and another win against Trinidad and Tobago or the USA will be enough.
Asthe results stand Canada are atop of the standings on goal difference and was the happier team after the final whistle.
Canadian national football coach, Stephen Hart, expressed satisfaction with the goalless result against Costa Rica, that kept them atop the five-nation CONCACAF Under-17 World Cup qualification series, at the National Stadium last night.
"I was satisfied with the result," stated Hart, whose team played the first match of a double-header. At press time, the United States wee leading Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 at half-time in that encounter.
Hart's team beat Jamaica 3-0 in Saturday's opening set of round robin matches and while pleased with the finish, the Canadian coach felt indifferently about their performance in the first half.
"I really wasn't pleased with the first half, but we recovered and played well in the second half.
"We defended but we couldn't really keep the ball effectively like we did in the first game against Jamaica. We were a bit narrow in the middle of the field and really, it cost us to put ourselves under a lot of pressure," said Hart, who is also the coach of the Canadian senior national team.
Technically good team
He added: "The Costa Rica team is a technically good team, they pass the ball around a lot so I wasn't pleased with the first half. The second half I thought we came out and we changed a few things and we had a lot more of the ball and we had a couple of good chances. But we didn't score."
"My main concern now is how we manage our fatigue because I think that we are at a big disadvantage because we will have to play four games in six days and we only get one day's rest between the games and going down the stretch we are going to play team with two days rest," Hart concluded.
BY SEAN A WILLIAMS Assistant Sports Editor williamss@jamaicaobserver.com Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Tournament favourites the USA turned back a spirited Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 in their opening game of the CONCACAF Group B Under-17 World Cup qualifying series at the National Stadium last night. Alexander Nimo hit a brace in the second and 62nd minutes to pilot the Americans forward in their bid to take one of three qualifying places from this group to this summer's FIFA Under-17 World Cup championship in South Korea.
Ellis McLoughlin, who was red-carded in the 80th minute, got the North Americas' other goal in the 38th. The result means that Trinidad's dream of advancing to South Korea has all but vanished as they lost their opening game 0-2 to Costa Rica on Saturday.
USA goal-scorer Ellis McLoughlin (left) tries to get away from Trinidad and Tobago's Ryan O'Neil in their CONCACAF Group B Under-17 World Cup qualifying match at the National Stadium last night. The USA won 3-0. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
The USA leapt to a second minute lead when the Liberian-born Alexander Nimo navigated his way past two Trinidadian defenders before hitting a firm shot from a difficult angle to beat goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel.
Though the Americans looked the better team tactically and technically, the Trinis, in the true spirit of their island culture of music and dance, put on a show for their handful of fans. In the 15th minute, an eye-catching attacking move down the right flank ended with Stephen Knox kicking straight to goalie Zachary MacMath after being well fed by Micah Lewis.
Four minutes later, the gutsy Trinis streamed forward, much to the delight of their supporters (a mixture of their countrymen and Jamaicans), but Daniel Cyrus' firm left-footer from 20 yards was expertly blocked by MacMath. The Trinidadians, despite their enterprise and purpose, fell further behind in the 38th minute from a well worked goal by the strident North Americans.
From a quick knock-around of the ball in midfield, a well-measured pass was sprayed to Sheanon Williams lurking on the right, and his low, teasing harmless-looking pass inside was spun into a beauty by Ellis McLoughlin, who hit a grounder from 12 yards past a clueless Samuel. The superior Americans, despite being pushed back on occasions by the Young Soca Warriors, scored again through Nimo, who crept up at the far post to drive a low shot beneath Samuel.
The USA will next play leaders Canada in the first of a double-header tomorrow at 5:00 pm inside the National Stadium, while hosts Jamaica take on Costa Rica in a must-win game at 7:00. Trinidad get a bye tomorrow.
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Hunt needs to resolve our greatest weakness defensive organization especially against counter attacks. This is a problem for the Senior team to primary school
All dem likkle idiot argument bout waggonist fi dun..
yu nuh see Jamaican football ina crisis.
When we are sucessful and winning tings then we can point fun at each other..
we need to be pointing fingers at the powers that be. And demand success. We need fi mek the players know, we dont want to see anymore rubbish when yu wear the Jamaican colours. We need fi mek Jamaica big again.
_________________________
They make the world so hard
3 games in 6 days, the CRican youth them must tired to rahtid. The schedule gi unnu a glimmer of hope so unnu better tek advantage of it come Wednesday.
Good thing the youth them camp up ah Mandeville, I hope they went back there after the games. That cool breeze does wonders fi reenergize tired and aching muscles.
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Jamaica needs a Trinidad miracle against Canada to have a chance. If Trinidad beats or ties Canada. Jamaica still has a chance for the last spot with victories against USA and Trinidad.
