THE U17 Lady Jags defeated the Turks and Caicos 6 – 0, yesterday at the IMG Academy, to join Honduras, St Kitts and Nevis and Curacao as the teams to advance to the 2022 CONCACAF U17 Women’s Championship from the Qualifying tournament in Florida.

Anaya Willabus (21’, 38’), Sandra Johnson (30’, 82’) and Jalade Trim (47’, 53’) netted to help secure the win for Guyana, as the Lady Jags finished as the best-ranked second placed team among the three groups with six points from three matches, to punch their ticket to next year’s tournament.
The 2022 championship is scheduled for January 22 – February 6.

The Lady Jags had defeated Anguilla 1 – 0, but fell 0 – 6 to Honduras in their second encounter.
“I’m very proud of the girls and what they have achieved in qualifying for the CONCACAF hampionships,” Head Coach Castello said.

She added that “they worked hard at all times, showed a great attitude in training, and followed the game plans. I want to thank the excellent support and leadership of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Technical Director, Ian Greenwood, the International Support Group, and the GFF Executive Committee.”

“There is still a lot of work to be done to prepare the girls for the championships early in 2022,” Castello said. “We need investment and support from the Government of Guyana to allow us to perform in the championships.”

Paul Beresford, Director of GFF Women’s Programmes, also expressed his pride in the milestone accomplishment of the group and support staff, noting that “this was an extremely challenging campaign and both players and staff exceeded all of my expectations.”

“We will start the process of preparing for the next round immediately, and we look forward to the continued development of this group,” Beresford said.

GFF technical staff highlighted eye-catching and consistently strong performances from Conquerors’ Johnson, Captain Alyssa Blake from Albany Alleycats and Georgetown Academy Training Centre’s Akeelah Vancooten, as instrumental in the team’s journey to qualification.

The 18-strong squad for the qualifying tournament included 16 Guyana-based players from across the nation, including five players from the Orealla community in Region Six; five from Georgetown and four from Region Seven.

Region One is also represented in a squad boasting a significant proportion of talent from hinterland communities.

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF)’s Technical Director, Ian Greenwood, highlighted the Federation’s significant investment into scouting and recruiting players from the hinterland communities, pointing to Sue Edwards from Kamarang, Region Seven, who scored what turned out to be the winning goal in their 1 – 0 opening victory against Anguilla.

“For this group of players to continue to grow and build ahead of the upcoming CONCACAF Championships in January 2022, we need real investment and support from the Government of Guyana and our key stakeholders to maintain team cohesion by ensuring our hinterland-based players are provided with the resources to continue to train with the squad at the GFF National Training Centre,” Greenwood added.

The U-17 team qualified for the CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championships for the first time in 2019, but the competition was cancelled due to the pandemic.