Under-20 Girlz must win to progress

Jamaica and Honduras will battle today in a winner-take-all encounter at the Concacaf Under-20 Women's Championships in their final preliminary group game at the National Football Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua.

Only one spot from the group is available for the final round of the Championships, and both teams are tied on six points, but Honduras have the advantage after their 9-0 demolition of Anguilla, which boosted their goal difference to 14. They had defeated Bermuda 6-1 earlier.

Jamaica, on the other hand, defeated Bermuda 2-0 in their game on Sunday after thumping Anguilla 6-0 last Friday for a goal difference of eight.

Only the group winners will join the United States of America (JSA) and Mexico in next month's final round, scheduled to be held in the Dominican Republic.

A draw at the minimum would be enough to take Honduras to the next round, but Jamaica must win to continue their streak of participating in the championship final round, having competed in the last 11.

Jamaica's last encounter with Honduras at the under-20 level was in 2015 in the final round of the Concacaf Women's Championship, when Honduras was the host country. The match finished 2-2, with national striker Khadija Shaw scoring a brace.

The Girlz will be hoping to avoid a similar fate in 2015 when both teams were tied on four points, but Jamaica were edged out of qualifying for the knockout round by goal difference.

From the start of the tournament, the coaching staff pointed out Honduras being the Girlz' biggest challenge in the quest to go to the final round. However, head coach Hugh Bradford had previously indicated that no team would be taken for granted and backed the young Reggae Girlz to do well.