BRADENTON, Florida – Both Grenada and Nicaragua collected their first wins on Tuesday in Group B action at the 2018 Concacaf Under-20 Championship.
Grenada downed Saint Martin 5-2, yet it was Saint Martin who struck early through Nolan Freyer (1’) before Jesron Charles (21’, 27’) bagged his brace.
Rahim Stephen (30’, 66’) had a brace of his own, sandwiching a Saint Martin goal from Isais Pagesy (56’), and the fifth and final Grenada goal came via Dorrel Pierre in the 87’.
In a hard-fought battle in the group’s second game, goals in the 74’ and 79’ powered Nicaragua to a 2-1 win over Aruba. A Mark Jacobs own goal opened the scoring and it was soon 2-0 thanks to Alexander Caldera.
Aruba never threw in the towel though and a Keanu Maduro score in the 90+2’ provided hope, but Nicaragua held on to collect the three points.
The two undefeated teams in the group faced off in the nightcap, with Mexico and Jamaica battling to a 2-2 draw.
El Tricolor got goals from a Javain Brown own goal (21’) and a Jose Macias penalty conversion (66’), while the Reggae Boyz were boosted by scores from Leonardo Jibbison (61’) and Tyreek Magee (71’).
