Overseas based Guyanese Javier George, a member of fourth tier French outfit Stade Beaucairois 30, is expected in Guyana February 5th to join the U20 training squad for the CONCACAF male U20 Championships to be hosted in Nicaragua from February 15th-23rd.
“There is player coming in from the February 5th from France for trials. He will be in the training for that week and once he is good enough he will stay on until the completion of the tournament. Javier George is the name of the individual who plies his trade for a 4th Division side in France,” a source told Stabroek Sports.
According to the source, “George is the third overseas-born or based player that will be participating in the trials.
“The duo of Hudson Hazlewood and William Vaughn have already participated in the training and were assessed by the management team, headed by Wayne Dover. All overseas born or based players who want to represent Guyana must arrive on local shores to be assessed. That is the position of the management team,” the source added.
Presently, the Guyana Football Federation [GFF] has reduced the initial shortlisted group of 60 players to 27 following two weeks of training at the National Training Center, Providence.
Guyana will open their group-A campaign against Montserrat on the 15th at the Estadio de Nacional de Futbol from 16:30hrs. In their second fixture, Guyana will oppose St. Vincent and the Grenadines two days later at the same venue from 16:30hrs. This will be followed by an encounter with US Virgin Islands on the 21st from 20:30hrs. In their final showdown, Guyana will battle the host nation on the 23rd at 20:30hrs.
Guyana, in their previous outing in the CONCACAF U20 Championship in 2018, ended with a record of one win [El Salvador] and three losses [Guatemala, Curacao and Cayman Islands]. The qualifying round of the event features 17 teams being divided into four groups. One group will comprise five teams.
The top finisher from each group will advance to the knockout round. The other groups are Group B: Dominican Republic, Grenada, Dominica and Anguilla, Group C: Curacao, Guadeloupe, Belize and Saint Martin and Group D: Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands and Barbados.
Meanwhile the remaining 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four in the second round section. The groups are Group E: United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Saint Kitts and Nevis, Group F: Mexico, El Salvador, Canada and Aruba, Group G: Panama, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname and Group H: Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala and Antigua and Barbuda.
The top three finishers from the second round division will progress to the knockout round. According to CONCACAF, “the final stage of the competition (round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal and final) will be played in a single match elimination format, with the semifinalist qualifying to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Indonesia 2021.”
