– Guyana to face Bahamas tomorrow

IT was not the result Coach Brian Joseph expected when Guyana went down 3 – 0 to Nicaragua in their opening game of the CONCACAF U-15 Championship in Florida, but the Guyanese youths will look to bounce back against the Bahamas tomorrow at 11:00am.

Playing at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, Guyana looked shabby at best in their 90 minutes of play and their elementary mistakes from early resulted in Dorwin Corrales scoring Nicaragua’s opening goal just four minutes into the day’s action between the two sides.

Roger Gomez doubled the lead in the 30th minute as Nicaragua closed the half with a 2 – 0 cushion. However, in the second half, Guyana seemed more comfortable on the pitch, and only conceded one more goal which came just after the resumption of play off the cleats of Osmin Salinas (47th minute).

Guyana has been placed in Group E with Nicaragua, Cayman Islands and The Bahamas and following tomorrow’s game against the Bahamas, the Guyanese boys will close their group stage against the Cayman Islands on August 8.

According to CONCACAF, the tournament will be played in two rounds, where for the first-round group phase, the 42 participating teams have been divided into three divisions according to the Concacaf Men’s Under-17 ranking as of 2019, ensuring sporting balance and a minimum number of four matches for each team.

Division One will be made up by the top 14 ranked Concacaf teams, as well as Slovenia and Portugal. The 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each (Groups A-D). After round robin play, the four group winners and the four second place finishers will advance to the quarterfinals to play for the Championship. The third and fourth place finishers will play an additional match to determine their final position in the division.

Division Two will be made up by the next 15 best ranked CONCACAF teams and Israel. The 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each (Groups E-H). After round robin play, the four group winners will advance to the semi-finals to play for the divisional championship.

The second, third and fourth place finishers will play an additional match to determine their final position in the division.

Division Three will be made up by the lowest 10 ranked CONCACAF teams. The teams have been divided into two groups of five teams each (Groups I and J). After round robin play, the group winners will advance to the divisional final, while the remaining teams will play an additional match to determine their final position in the division.”