Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Jamaica's young Reggae Boyz edged Cuba and Haiti to be the top-seeded team from the Caribbean Football Union Finals through to the CONCACAF Under-20 championships, to be staged in Puebla, Mexico, from February 18-March 2 next year.

When the draw for next year's championship takes place on November 21, Jamaica will be placed in pot one alongside Mexico, USA and Canada. Pot two will consist of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador, while pot three will feature Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Curaçao.

The 12 teams will compete for places at the 2013 FIFA Under-20 Youth World Cup to be held in Turkey from June 21 to July 13 next year.

superior goal

Jamaica, playing with 10 men from the 58th minute, when Kereen Manning was ejected after committing his second bookable offence, saw off the challenge of Cuba in their final Group B encounter at Stadium East on Saturday evening, as the teams played out a goalless draw.

The result saw Jamaica top the tournament by virtue of a superior goal difference after finishing with seven points from three games, the same as Cuba and Group B winner Haiti.

Despite the team's achievement, however, many in attendance at Saturday's game lamented the apparent lack of cohesion and poor decision-making by the team in the final third.

"Here in Jamaica they are very tough with the teams, because it is believed that we must destroy every opponent; it is not like that," Jamaica's head coach, Luciano Gama, defended. "The football is very balanced and we had just one week to prepare the team for this tournament.

important players

"We lost some important players for the tournament also, so if you take into account all the situations, you must give a discount for the team."

In the opening game of Saturday's double-header, Antigua and Barbuda came from behind to defeat Suriname 3-1, thanks to second-half strikes from Calaun Martin (48th), Tevaughn Harriette (50th) and Elijah McDonald (58th). Suriname had opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Viola Ziome Bodji scored from the penalty spot.

The result saw Antigua and Barbuda and Group A third-place team Curaçao finishing with identical statistics (three points, three goals scored, four goals conceded and a goal difference of -1). This resulted in a coin toss being used to determine which of teams advanced as the best overall third-place team. Curaçao won the toss.

Puerto Rico qualified for the final round after placing second in Group A behind Haiti with four points.