BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Sept. 8, 2022
According to some reports, the Belize National U17 Men’s Team returned home on Tuesday of this week after completing their Group D play with 4 points from a draw, a loss, and a win at the 2022 Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship in which the Group D games were held in Managua, Nicaragua from Wednesday, August 31 to Sunday, September 4.
Belize drew, 1-1, with Antigua & Barbuda (ATG) on Wednesday, August 31; lost, 3-0, to hosts Nicaragua on Friday, September 2; and won, 2-0, over Turks & Caicos Islands (TCA) on Sunday, September 4.
Belize ended up with 4 points for second place in Group D, behind group winner Nicaragua who were perfect with 9 points from 3 wins and 0 goals allowed. Third place ATG also had 4 points, but were a goal behind Belize in the goal differential. Both teams lost 3-0 to Nicaragua, but while ATG only managed a 1-0 victory over 4th place TCA, Belize beat TCA, 2-0, in our last outing on Sunday to clinch 2nd place in the group. Goal scorers in that victory were Ammad Augustine (14’) and Devin Garbutt (39’); while our lone goal in the 1-1 opening draw was by Jaheim Mena (15’).
This looks like a positive outing for a Belize (BLZ) national youth team; but we are obviously well behind Group D favorite Nicaragua (NCA) who swept all opponents. Only the group winners will advance to next year’s 2023 Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship.
See Group D final standings chart.
From the four groups comprising 19 teams, the group winners advancing in the tournament, along with other group members according to final standings, are as follows:
Group A – Bermuda (2nd Bonaire, 3rd Guyana, 4th Bahamas, 5th British V.I., 6th Saint Martin); Group B – Puerto Rico (2nd Aruba, 3rd Martinique, 4th Anguilla, 5th U.S. Virgin I.); Group C – Dominican Republic (2nd St. Kitts & Nevis, 3rd Cayman Islands, 4th Dominica); and Group D – Nicaragua (2nd Belize, 3rd Antigua & Barbuda, 4th Turks & Caicos Islands).
The 4 group winners above will join the other higher ranked Concacaf teams in next year’s Men’s U17 Championship.