Jamaica 2 Bermuda 0

Two goals either side of the half from Jamaica's Ricardo Cousins and Donovan Miller put paid to Bermuda's hopes of meeting Canada in tonight's final of the Under-17 International Youth Tournament at the National Sports Centre on Wednesday night.

After Bermuda had clawed their way back into contention with an inspiring 3-1 win over Barbados on Monday night, only Jamaica stood between them and place in the final.

But despite matching their opponents for most of the first half, Bermuda were made to pay by Cousins who capitalised on a partial clearance by the defence and rifled home a crisp drive from inside the area just five minutes before the break.

Fifteen minutes from the end, Miller then sealed the local team's fate after yet another half-hearted clearance allowed the forward a second bite at the cherry.

Despite the loss, Bermuda coach Scott Morton said he was confident his young team would bounce back against Barbados in tonight's consolation match.

"Jamaica is a fit and very organised team and as you saw, they play with a lot of confidence," Morton noted.

"Our players have to take some of that confidence from them and learn that no matter what the circumstances, they always have to be confident on the ball regardless of the way the match is going, because a match is played for 90 minutes and you just have to keep battling towards the end.

"But I take my hats off to them (Bermuda players). They fought hard but now we are looking forward to the consolation match."

Bermuda will meet Barbados in today's opening match at 7 p.m., while Jamaica take on the unbeaten Canadians in the final beginning at 9.00.

Jamaica coach Jackie Walters anticipates another interesting match with Canada tonight, having lost to that side 3-1 on Monday.

"Obviously Canada are very physical and strong,"said Walters. "We are just going to have to play ourselves a lot better and be more consistent in our approach - especially in terms of defence."

During Wednesday's opening fixture, Canada, playing without several of their key players, were still far too strong for Barbados, routing the Caribbean team 8-0.

Hector Contreras opened the floodgates with a goal in the 21st minute before further strikes followed from Angus Burkes (34th and 44th), Andrew Proctor (35th), Tyler Rosenlund (50th), substitute Cam Wilson (60th and 84th) and Derek Rios (70th).

Afterwards, Canadian coach Stephen Hart downplayed his team's huge win.

"It was a situation where we were playing against a team that's a little bit demoralised and we just decided to keep things simple and try and see how the game went," he explained.

"It's always important to play well and do what is asked. That's why we are here and that's all we are going to do."