By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Barbuda Benna Boys fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Nicaragua at the Estadio Nacional in Nicaragua on Sunday, reducing them to a third-place finish in the four-team Group D of the Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championships Qualifiers.
The win was Nicaragua’s third as they finished with a perfect nine points from their three matches atop the group to punch their ticket to the 2023 Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship.
Benna Boys fell behind in minute 20 when Juban Uriarte opened the scoring for Nicaragua, sending the home team into the interval with a one-nil advantage. Nicaragua then got late goals from Oliver Bello in the 73’ and Oscar Navarrete in the 87’ to seal the three points and the Concacaf Men’s Under-17 berth.
In the group’s other game, Belize closed their participation in the qualifiers with a 2-0 win over Turks and Caicos Islands.
First half goals from Ammad Augustine in the 14’ and Devin Garbutt in the 39’ earned the three points for the Central Americans.
On Friday last week, Antigua and Barbuda enjoyed a 1-0 win versus Turks and Caicos Islands. The lone goal came right before halftime, as Tejhano Jarvis scored in the 45+1’ to deliver the three points to the Benna Boys.