KINGSTON, Jamaica - Canada's men's soccer team closed its unsuccessful bid for a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 loss to Jamaica on Wednesday.

The loss ended a disappointing qualifying run for Canada, which failed to win a game during the third round of qualifying after powering past St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the second round.

"We are disappointed," said Canadian head coach Dale Mitchell. "We started off with the two home games. You start with the first two games at home and you have some pressure."

Jamaica opened the scoring on a goal from Luton Shelton in the 27th minute. Shelton took a pass and went in alone on Lars Hirschfeld, before sidestepping the Canadian goalkeeper and scoring into an open net.

Marlon King increased Jamaica's lead to 2-0 on a penalty shot in the 58th minute.

Substitute Omar Cummings capped the scoring for Jamaica in the 86th minute.

Canada appeared to score in the 91st minute, but the goal was disallowed when a Canadian player was ruled offside.

Canada (0-4-2) came into the match with no chance making it to the CONCACAF region's final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The top two teams in each of the three groups qualified for the final round. Jamaica (3-2-1) finished tied for second in Group 2 with Mexico, but Mexico advanced on a better goals difference. Jamaica would have needed to beat Canada 7-0 to overtake Mexico.

Honduras finished first in Group 2 with a 4-2-0 record.

The top three teams in the final round of qualifying advance to the World Cup, while the fourth plays the fifth-place South American team in a playoff with another berth at stake.

"I believe our team was competitive with all three teams in the group, we played them close, but haven't had enough to get the wins," Mitchell said. "That has been the story of our campaign."

Canada fielded a young squad as several key veterans were unavailable. Major League Soccer star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario did not dress, while midfielder Julian de Guzman was out with an injury and striker Tomasz Radzinski was serving a suspension.

"It wasn't the team that we would have normally have, but I thought they competed well," Mitchell said."Maybe (it would have been different) if we had got the goal in the first half. I thought Donovan Ricketts made an outstanding save on Kevin Harmse and that kept the game at one-nil.

"I was pleased because our younger players will benefit from the experience tonight."

Even with a full compliment of players, Mitchell said it would be difficult to advance out of Group 2.

"I would bet on Honduras and Mexico to make it to the World Cup," he said.

Team captain Paul Stalteri earned his 74th cap for Canada.