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Reynolds hopes Jamaica U14s ‘keep growing’ Young Boyz look to extend winning record in CFU Challenger Series semis
August 20, 2026
After winning for the third straight game, the young Reggae Boyz will continue pushing for improvements in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-14 Challenger Series.
Jamaica’s juvenile football team marched into the semi-finals of the tournament, following their 2-0 win over Curacao in their final Tier I, Group C game in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.
“As a team we are improving, so I am pretty pleased with that,” said Vassell Reynolds, head coach of the Jamaica team. “In the final phase of our play and in midfield, we need to be more consistent.”
Jamaica look set to face Bermuda in one semi-final, with Haiti down to face the Dominican Republic in the other play-off match, on Friday.
Focused
“We will be focused on this (semi) game alone. We will not be focused on the final because we have to win this game to get there. But we are very confident and positive,” declared Reynolds.
“The semi-finals come with its own pressure, but we will not apply any pressure on the boys,” he added. “We hope they keep growing and that’s what we ask of them; keep practising, keep focusing, and take it a game at a time. And once we do that, the result will take care of itself,” he stated.
A goal in each half from Jaheem Brown (28th) and Tai-Sean Headley (67th) ensured the young Reggae Boyz topped their group with a perfect nine points from three matches. They scored seven goals and conceded none.
First objective
Reynolds praised his players for achieving their first objective of reaching the semi-finals.
“Very pleased that we would have achieved our first objective, which was to qualify for the semi-finals,” he said.
“We would have done so with a clean sheet, some good performances and improving game by game. Those are some things we are very satisfied with, and so we would have accomplished what we came here to accomplish so far,” he told STAR Sports.
Vassell anticipated Curacao would have given them their toughest test in the group, and thought the players were near-perfect in their application.
“This was a Curacao team we had seen and assessed would have given us the biggest challenge, and they did for parts (of the game), but we did well when we came under pressure,” he assessed.
Brown gave the Jamaicans the lead when he swept home a cross from Basil Trail. Headley then sealed the deal, turning home a cross from Makiri D’Agullar.
“The entire team applied itself,” Reynolds continued. “We had to make some changes at the beginning because of the situation with the minutes.
“However, after the first two games, we realised that after the substitutions we made in the previous two games, people came on and impacted the game positively.
“So we were pretty confident with any 11 on the pitch. People who did not start gave a good account of themselves. So I’m overall pretty pleased with the effort.
