-Guyana drawn in Group A; will face Montserrat on Feb 15

HEAD Coach of Guyana’s Men’s U-20 side, Wayne Dover, has called 27 players to trials ahead of the up-coming Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) 2020 Concacaf Under-20 Championship Qualifiers.

Guyana has been placed in Group A with co-host Nicaragua, along with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat and the US Virgin Islands.

The Dominican Republic, Curacao and Puerto Rico are the other host countries for the tournament which will be played February 15 – 23.

Dover and his troop will get into action on February 15 against Montserrat, and will then face St Vincent and the Grenadines on February 17, followed by US Virgin Islands on February 19 and Nicaragua on February 23.

“The Technical staff focus will be to organise the team in offence and defence and have them playing as a unit,” Dover said, after taking his charges through their paces at the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) Providence facility.

Wayne Forde, president of the GFF, said that he’s confident of an improved performance from the U-20 team, as compared to their showing in 2018, stating that “the preparation for this tournament began with a scouting programme throughout the Regional Member Associations which was further complemented by the inauguration of the first National KFC U-20 Tournament.”

Forde further reasoned that the shortlisted players have been training since last year, “but unfortunately, not at the frequency we would have preferred due to the financial challenges as a result of the Senior Men’s Nations League campaign. Notwithstanding, I am confident that Coach Dover and his staff understands the importance of making a commanding statement at the Concacaf championship this year and I have no doubt that they will deliver.”

The 2020 edition of the men’s world cup qualifying competition will be disputed in three stages, beginning with the qualifiers. For the qualifiers, the 17 participating teams (ranked from 17-41, according to the Concacaf Under-20 Ranking as of June 2019) were divided into three groups of four teams and one group of five teams.

After round-robin play, the top finisher in each of the groups will advance directly to the knockout stage of the competition (third round).

The second round of the competition will also be played in a group format, between the top ranked 16 participating teams (according to the Concacaf Under-20 Ranking as of June 2019). For this round, the teams have been divided into four groups of four.

After round robin play, the top three finishers of each group will advance to the knockout stage of the competition. The knockout stage of the competition (round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final) will be played in June of 2020, at a yet-to-be announced host country.

Meanwhile, at the same championship in November 2018 contesting the Group Stage, Guyana recorded a historical 2-0 win over El Salvador, compliments of goals from Kelsey Benjamin and Captain Jeremy Garrett in their final match at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA.

Prior to their win against El Salvador, the young Guyanese narrowly went down to Curacao 3-4, and Cayman Islands 2-3 after giving up their opening match to Guatemala, 0-4.