Canadian women learn draw for CONCACAF Under-20 qualifying tournament

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This article was published 16/02/2023 (1312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MIAMI – Canada has been drawn in Group A with El Salvador, Cuba, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Martinique and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship.

The Canadians have to win their qualifying group to advance to the final tournament under the region’s new format for women’s youth competitions.

The qualifying tournament, involving 32 teams divided into six groups, is scheduled for April 14-23. The draw was held Thursday at CONCACAF headquarters.

The six qualifying group winners will join the U.S. and Mexico, the top two ranked teams in the region, in the final eight-team group stage that runs May 24 to June 3 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Ranked third, the Canadians just missed out on automatic qualification to the main tournament.

The final eight will be split into two groups, with the top two from each pool advancing to the knockout stage. The top three finishes qualify for next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

The U.S. is the defending CONCACAF Women’s under-20 champion, having defeated Mexico 3-0 in the 2022 final to claim its seventh U-20 title. Canada blanked Puerto Rico 2-0 in the third-place match to qualify for the 2022 FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica, where it failed to advance out of the opening round after going 0-3-0.

Canada has taken part in eight of the past 10 FIFA U-20 World Cups and hosted the event in 2002 and 2014. Its best showings came at home, finishing second in 2002 (when a 19-year-old Christine Sinclair won the Golden Ball as tournament leading scorer with 11 goals) and making the quarterfinals in 2014.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2023.