Jamaica College Manning Cup captain and U-20 Reggae Boy Duncan McKenzie has signed with Serbian Club RFK Graficar Beograd, the club announced on Wednesday.
“We are proud to introduce the newest footballer to our team, Duncan McKenzie,” the club said in an Instagram post.
Graficar competes in the Serbian First League, the second tier of Serbian club football and is affiliated with Serbian SuperLiga side Red Star Belgrade.
“The Jamaican footballer has signed a three-year contract with Graficar and is a great reinforcement for us in the coming years,” they added.
The 18-year-old McKenzie, who previously represented Real Mona FC, was a crucial member of the Jamaica U-20 side that narrowly missed out on a place at next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.
The team lost 1-0 to the Dominican Republic in the quarter-finals of the Concacaf U-20 Championship on the 29th of June knowing a semi-final berth would secure a spot in the 24-team World Cup.
Jamaica’s Under-20 Reggae Boyz secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Concacaf Under-20 Championship on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Haiti at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula.
Reading striker Jahmari Clarke gave the Jamaicans an early lead in the fourth minute, a lead they held for the rest of the first half.
Five minutes after the restart, however, Steevenson Jeudy got Haiti’s equalizer before Tarick Ximines scored Jamaica’s winner with six minutes remaining.
Jamaica will tackle the Dominican Republic, which advanced following a thrilling 5-4 victory over El Salvador last Wednesday.
The other quarterfinals will see the USA opposing Costa Rica and hosts Honduras squaring off against Panama on Tuesday while the second game on Wednesday will see Mexico battling Guatemala.
Jamaica’s Under-20 Reggae Boyz suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat to hosts Honduras in their second game at the Concacaf Under-20 Championships at the Estadio Francisco Morazan in San Pedro Sula on Monday.
The hosts took an early lead through a Marco Aceituno header in the third minute.
The lead was doubled when Aceituno got his second of the game after Jamaican goalkeeper Coniah Boyce-Clarke failed to block his left-footed strike from inside the box.
The young Reggae Boyz’ task was made more difficult when they were reduced to 10 men after Lamont Rochester was sent off in first half stoppage time.
The start of the second half brought no extra luck for the Jamaicans as Isaac Castillo slotted home to make it 3-0 for Honduras in the 48th minute.
The hosts got a fourth in the 58th minute through substitute Jefry Macias.
The scoring was completed in the 84th minute when Macias got his second goal to make it 5-0.
Honduras now leads Group D with six points from two games while Jamaica sits third with one.
Costa Rica got a 3-0 win over Antigua and Barbuda in Monday’s other Group D game to move to four points while their opponents have two losses.
Wednesday will see Jamaica play the Antiguans while Honduras will do battle with Costa Rica.
Haiti and Guatemala confirmed their progression from Group B of the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championship after playing out a 1-1 draw, at the San Cristobal Pan-American Stadium, in the Dominican Republic on Monday.
The Guatemalans took the lead in the 21st minute through Celsa Sandoval before Haiti got their equalizer on the stroke of halftime through Rose-Alya Marcellus. Both teams got one red card each with Lesly Hernandez being dismissed for the Guatemalans and Withmilla Alcide seeing red for the Haitians.
With three teams advancing from each group and one match left in group play, Haiti and Guatemala both have four points to be first and second, while Jamaica are third on three points. Cuba sits last in the Group without a point.
The young Reggae Girlz will now go into their last match with Haiti knowing that a win, draw or a Cuban loss to Guatemala will be enough to send them through to the round of 16 stage. Both matches will be played on Wednesday.
Suriname, The Cayman Islands, Curacao, and Bermuda all automatically advanced to the round of 16 through the qualifying tournament, while the other 12 teams to advance alongside them will be determined by group play.
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