BRADENTON, Fla. — Clement Bayiha's first-half goal stood as the winner as Canada defeated Martinique 2-1 on Saturday to wrap up group play at the CONCACAF men's under-20 championships.
Steffen Yeates also scored for Canada, which failed to advance to the second round of the tournament by not winning its group.
Raphael Axel had Martinique's lone goal in the 69th minute. Noble Okello had a chance to extend Canada's lead in the 83rd minute but his header hit the post.
The Canadians opened the tournament, which served as a regional qualifier for next year's U-20 World Cup in Poland, with wins over Dominica and Guadeloupe but lost their next two to Panama and St. Kitts & Nevis to fall from the top spot.
"We knew we had to build some Concacaf understanding and we did that," said head coach Andrew Olivieri. "Our new reality is that we've got to be able to get up and go again within two days and rely on the depth of the team and of players being able to recover physically, mentally, technically and tactically."
No. 4 Panama locked up the group and a berth in the second round with a victory over Dominica on Friday.
The field for the newly expanded CONCACAF U20 tournament was divided into six groups with the six group winners advancing to a second round-robin stage with two groups of three teams. The top two from the two groups will qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup with the two group winners playing for the North and Central America and Caribbean title.
Canada and Guadeloupe both finished with nine points through five games.
The Canadian Press