Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter

JAMAICA'S UNDER-17 footballers will start today's game 90 minutes away from making sure they at least find themselves in the third and fourth play-off of the Caribbean Football Union Youth Championships being held in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Young Reggae Boyz will run on to the Dwight Yorke Stadium pitch to face Panama, having already dispatched Canada in impressive fashion to lead the Group B quarter-finalists on goal difference.

Behind the eight-ball

Panama are behind the eight-ball having already lost to Mexico in a closely contested 2-1 game.

Despite that, Panama are still expected to offer a stiff challenge to the Jamaicans but coach David Hunt has said that his team is relishing the opportunity to face them before the CONCACAF qualifiers.

"I'm happy for the change made by the CFU because it gives us the opportunity to match up against the teams we will be playing against them in the CONCACAF qualifiers so, to me, it is a blessing in disguise," Hunt had said after his team's 3-0 thrashing of Canada.

While Jamaica are on a high, they have not forgotten that this game is still a must-win because they don't want to have to beat Mexico to make their way into the final.

A victory in today's 3:00 p.m. fixture could mean Jamaica only need a draw against Mexico to top the group. However, they will still have to await the result of the Mexico/Canada match-up.

The format of the competition dictates that the top teams from the two-group quarter-finals will play against each other in the final.

Five remaining

The second-placed teams from each group will face-off against each other in a third and fourth place play-off. The top CFU team, of which there are five remaining (Suriname, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Jamaica), will vie for the top CFU spot.

The top two teams from the region will automatically qualify for the CONCACAF qualifiers. Jamaica, however, have already qualified for that tournament as CFU defending champions.

In other results out of the championships, Trinidad and Tobago drew their first quarter-final match against Barbados 1-1 while Haiti dismantled Suriname in a 7-1 affair.