Benna Youths in limbo following CONCACAF loss

The Antigua & Barbuda national under-15 football team will have to wait before knowing whether or not they will advance to Division II of the CONCACAF Under-15 Championships being held in Bradenton, Florida, following a 2-0 loss to Cayman Islands on Friday.
The loss came following the Benna Youths’ clean sweep of the group phase where they won all three of their matches without conceding a goal.
To have advanced outright into Division II, however, the Antigua & Barbuda team would have had to beat the Cayman Islands who had also won their Division III group.
Given the loss, the young Antiguans will have to await confirmation from the organisers on if they will play in Division II two years from now, given their success in the group stage.
Coach Schyan Jeffers, commending his team for the way they played after going down 2-0 in the first half, said had they put away chances they created in the second half, the results could have been different.
“In the second half we outplayed them. We had a couple of chances, also missed a penalty and just couldn’t find the back of the net so we were very unlucky in the second half,” he said.
“We made two mistakes in the first half and we paid dearly and there was no doubt about it that we were outplayed [in the first half] but I think we came back strong and sometimes it’s just not your day,” Jeffers added.
Antigua had enjoyed group wins against Grenada, St Martin and Dominica. They beat Grenada 5-0, before defeating St Martin 2-0 and clinching a 1-0 victory over Dominica.