MON­TEGO BAY-This north-coast city pro­vides the back­drop for the Con­ca­caf Un­der-17 Boys' Cham­pi­onship, which opens to­day.In its 15th edi­tion, the com­pe­ti­tion, which fea­tures 20 match­es over a two-week spell, will be con­test­ed at the Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um and Jar­rett Park, and will seek to crown the first Con­ca­caf U-17 boys' cham­pi­ons since 1996. T&T's Jack Warn­er, Con­ca­caf and Caribbean Foot­ball Union (CFU) pres­i­dent is ea­ger to have this com­pe­ti­tion re­vived as it lays the foun­da­tion for the re­gions fu­ture stars.

A for­mat to de­ter­mine the con­fed­er­a­tion's World Cup qual­i­fiers with­out des­ig­nat­ing a win­ner was used from 1999 to 2007.Two years ago, a cham­pi­onship tour­na­ment for­mat was rein­tro­duced, but a swine flu out­break in Mex­i­co, where the com­pe­ti­tion was be­ing held, forced the aban­don­ment of the event, fol­low­ing the con­clu­sion of the first round af­ter the World Cup qual­i­fiers had been set­tled.

Some of the coach­es be­lieve that the high­er num­ber of teams, and the new for­mat for the com­pe­ti­tion is more of an op­por­tu­ni­ty for the less­er es­tab­lished teams, and a roll of the dice for the favourites.The ul­ti­mate prize how­ev­er, for the 12 teams is a place at the FI­FA Un­der-17 Boys' World Cup in June in Mex­i­co.With Mex­i­co host­ing the World Cup, it is guar­an­teed a berth, and so the four teams that reach the se­mi-fi­nals will earn a place in the glob­al com­pe­ti­tion, which El Tri have earned nine of 13 times.

This would ef­fec­tive­ly mean that Con­ca­caf will have five na­tions tak­ing part at the Un­der-17 Boys' World Cup.Teams will be look­ing to sur­vive the tricky pre­lim­i­nary com­pe­ti­tion, which will be con­test­ed over a six-day spell from to­day to Sat­ur­day. The pre­lim­i­nary com­pe­ti­tion has changed from one that in­volved two groups of four teams, to one that now in­cludes four groups of three teams.In­stead of each team play­ing three first-round games with the top two in each group qual­i­fy­ing for the semi­fi­nals, the top two in each group now ad­vance to the quar­ter-fi­nals, with the win­ner of each se­cur­ing a World Cup berth.

The new for­mat means that Pana­ma and Bar­ba­dos, which are mak­ing their first ap­pear­ance in the fi­nal round of the Con­ca­caf U-17s, can qual­i­fy for Mex­i­co, if they can string to­geth­er three de­cent per­for­mances.The tour­na­ment will open with Haiti, one of the Caribbean Foot­ball Union qual­i­fiers, against Cen­tral Amer­i­can qual­i­fi­er Cos­ta Ri­ca in a Group-A en­counter at the Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um, where Cu­ba, an­oth­er CFU side, face po­lit­i­cal and sport­ing ri­vals, as well as hold­ers the US three hours lat­er.El Sal­vador is al­so in Group-A, while the Pana­ma­ni­ans are the oth­er side in Group-B.Group-C con­sists of hosts Ja­maica, fel­low CFU na­tion T&T, and Cen­tral Amer­i­can side Guatemala, with Hon­duras, Cana­da, and Bar­ba­dos mak­ing up Group-D. (CMC)

CON­CA­CAF U-17 Cham­pi­onship Sched­ule

At Mon­tego Bay

All times East­ern Caribbean

Group A: Cos­ta Ri­ca, El Sal­vador, Haiti

Group B: Unit­ed States, Pana­ma, Cu­ba

Group C: Ja­maica, Guatemala, T&T

Group D: Hon­duras, Cana­da, Bar­ba­dos

FIRST ROUND

Mon­day, Feb­ru­ary 14

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

Haiti vs Cos­ta Ri­ca, 1.30 pm

Cu­ba vs Unit­ed States, 4 pm

Tues­day, Feb­ru­ary 15

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

Bar­ba­dos vs Hon­duras, 1 pm

Ja­maica vs Trinidad & To­ba­go, 4 pm

Wednes­day, Feb­ru­ary 16

At Jar­rett Park

El Sal­vador vs Haiti, 1 pm

Pana­ma vs Cu­ba, 5.30 pm

Thurs­day, Feb­ru­ary 17

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

Cana­da vs Bar­ba­dos, 1.30 pm

Guatemala vs Trinidad & To­ba­go, 4 pm

Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 18

At Jar­rett Park

Cos­ta Ri­ca vs El Sal­vador, 1 pm

Unit­ed States vs Pana­ma, 5.30 pm

Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 19

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

Hon­duras vs Cana­da, 1.30 pm

Ja­maica vs Guatemala, 4 pm

QUAR­TER­FI­NALS

Tues­day, Feb­ru­ary 22

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

QF1: Group A win­ner vs Group B run­ner-up, 1 pm

QF2: Group B win­ner vs Group A run­ner-up, 4 pm

Wednes­day, Feb­ru­ary 23

QF3: Group D win­ner vs Group C run­ner-up, 1 pm

QF4: Group C win­ner vs Group D run­ner-up, 4 pm

SEMI­FI­NALS

Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 25

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

Quar­ter­fi­nal 1 win­ner vs Quar­ter­fi­nal 3 win­ner, 5 pm

Quar­ter­fi­nal 2 win­ner vs Quar­ter­fi­nal 4 win­ner, 8 pm

FI­NALS

Sun­day, Feb­ru­ary 27

At Cather­ine Hall Sta­di­um

Third-Place

Semi­fi­nal losers, 5 pm

CHAM­PI­ONSHIP

Semi­fi­nal win­ners, 8 pm