MIAMI, Florida – Group B of the 2022 Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship Qualifiers got underway on Wednesday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where both Puerto Rico and Aruba earned their first three points of the group with wins.
The star of the day was Puerto Rico’s Maxim Speed, who scored six goals in Puerto Rico’s commanding 16-0 victory over US Virgin Islands.
Speed scored four straight goals in the first half in the 6’, 7’, 13’ and 17’ before adding another pair in the second half in the 48’ and 68’.
Jorge Vazquez also notched a hat trick (1’, 20’, 72’) and was joined on the scoresheet by Leonard Aviles Jr. (42’), Abraham Nelson (61’), Adrian Prado (81’), Antonio Delgado (83’), Justin Blanco (86’), Marcos Villanueva (89’) and a USVI own goal (11’) to complete the scoring.
The group’s other match of the day saw Aruba pull out a dramatic 2-1 victory against Martinique. Juan Luis Delgado converted a penalty in the 6’ to hand Aruba a 1-0 lead, but Martinique would pull level with a penalty conversion of their own in the 71’ from Donovan Roque.
Things looked like they were headed for a draw, but Arien De Mey had other ideas and scored the winning goal in the 80’ for Aruba.
The action shifts back to Group A and Group C on Thursday, beginning with three matches in Group A at the IMG Academy.
Bermuda will look for their second win against a Saint Martin side hoping to rebound from their narrow 2-1 loss to Bahamas. It will be the same story for Bonaire and British Virgin Islands, with Bonaire seeking a second win and British Virgin Islands hunting a first victory. Also on the docket is Bahamas taking on Guyana, with Bahamas out for a second win and Guyana aiming for their first three points of the tournament.
The three matches will mark the first ever meetings between those nations in CMU17Q.
The evening games in Group C at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic will feature host nation and Tuesday winners Dominican Republic against a Cayman Islands side that narrowly fell 1-0 to Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Dominican Republic claimed the only other CMU17Q meeting between the two in a 9-1 final back in 2002.
Meanwhile, Saint Kitts and Nevis will be out for their second win of the CMU17Q against Dominica in a first ever meeting between the two teams.
