The Lady Jaguars Under-17 team got off to the perfect start in the CONCACAF Girls U-17 Championship first-round qualifiers, defeating hosts Curacao in their Group D opener at the Stadion Ergilio Hato in Willemstad on Wednesday.
The Guyanese ladies prevailed 2-1 in a hard-fought contest. Guyana’s starting XI consisted of Deekola Douglas (GK), Jenea Knight, Hasha Holder, Samara Rodrigues, Samantha Banfield, Alleia Alleyne, Latesha Sutherland, Shamya Daniels, Jalade Trim, Shanic Thornhill and Akasha Low-Koan.
The Lady Jaguars will now oppose St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) today at the same venue from 18:00hrs. The Bahamas crushed SVG 4-1 in the other match of the group.
Guyana will conclude their campaign on August 25th against The Bahamas at 17:00hrs.
According to CONCACAF, the Girls U-17 Championship will feature 32 teams. The qualifiers contain the lowest-ranked 16 teams based on the CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Ranking as of July 2018.
They are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Guyana, Honduras, Martinique, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, SVG and the US Virgin Islands.
The respective top finisher from each section (A, B, C and D) will advance to the knock-out stage of the Final Championship. Meanwhile, the remaining 16 teams, which comprise the confederation’s highest ranked teams, will participate in the Final Championship.
The teams – to be divided into four groups of four (E, F, G and H) – are Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States.
The top three teams from the aforesaid groups will join the winners of pool A, B, C and D in the round of 16 section. The resulting finalists and third place finisher will automatically qualify for the 2020 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup.
