The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has shortlisted 60 players, 46 of whom competed in the recently concluded Blue Waters Girl’s U-15 Championship, as they begin preparation for the impending CONCACAF Championship Qualifiers.
This was disclosed in a press release from the federation. According to the correspondence, the evaluation sessions, which commenced on Tuesday, will conclude today at the National Training Centre in Providence. 14 of the 60 shortlisted players emanate from the diaspora, with the final 18 members of the squad to be confirmed in the future.
GFF Technical Director Bryan Joseph said, “We are happy that the Blue Water U15 Girls tournament was timed and executed so well. It was a fantastic platform for talent identification, and I believe we made great use of it. This group of players we scouted appears to be the most talented we’ve seen at this age group, and we are super excited to prepare them for the upcoming CONCACAF championships.”
He further said, “We will see the true depth of this pool when the interior-based players join up in a couple of days. It will be interesting to see how they perform when the cream meets the cream. It all augers well for our national team.”
The 2024 CONCACAF Girl’s U-15 Championship is slated to be hosted in Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Aruba, according to an initial release from the regional confederation. Costa Rica will host League A, while Trinidad and Tobago stages the B segment, and Aruba hosts the C division.
Guyana, which is slated to depart local shores for Aruba on August 2nd, will open their League C campaign against Anguilla before opposing St. Vincent and the Grenadines one day later. They will end the group stage against the British Virgin Islands on August 8th.
“All three leagues will include a group stage and a direct elimination knockout stage, and each will crown its champion. The number of teams per league will be determined based on the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Rankings of March 2024 and the final number of participants”, the CONCACAF release stated. According to the aforesaid correspondence, approximately 36 member associations have expressed an interest in participating. They are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States, and the US Virgin Islands.
Guyana competed in League B of the 2022 edition, which was staged in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. The Guyanese, who competed in the event with only 14 players due to travel issues, ended with a record of two losses [1-3 Cayman Islands, Nicaragua] and a draw [2-2 Turks and Caicos].
