Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter

Jamaica's Under-17s narrowly missed out on a chance to make it into the final of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Championships being hosted in Trinidad and Tobago after a tough 2-1 loss to Mexico at the Dwight Yorke Stadium yesterday.

The Young Reggae Boyz got unto the scoresheet in the 75th minute through Dever Orgill, who has been their main marksman.

However, the lone strike, Orgill's fifth of the campaign, was too little too late to undo the damage of two first-half goals from the Mexicans. The Jamaicans handled themselves very well after a late change to the format of the qualifiers and could have gone through to the final with a little more luck.

After defeating Canada 3-0, the Jamaicans had to stave off the advances of Panama with 10 men to hold on to a 1-1 draw.

High praise

The young Reggae Boyz' coach David Hunt didn't want to comment on the structure of the competition, which he had initially looked on as a good challenge saying: "I'm not commenting on that."

Hunt did go on to comment on his team's performance though, giving his players high praise for the way they acquitted themselves.

"We are looking forward to the other game. Even though the players are a little disappointed they have nothing to be ashamed of," Hunt told The Gleaner.

With particular reference to the game, Hunt was of the opinion that the teams played well in an affair that could have gone either way.

"It was a close game, Mexico took their chances. No team dominated," he said.