THE U17 Lady Jags received a ‘bye’ to the CONCACAF U17 Championships Round-of-16, which will be held from April 23 to May 8, 2022, in the Dominican Republic.
Guyana finished as the best-ranked second-placed team among the three groups at the Qualification tournament at the IMG Academy in Florida, with six points from three matches, to punch their ticket to next year’s tournament.
The U17 Lady Jags had defeated Anguilla 1-0 in their first match, thanks to a single strike from Sue Edwards, but fell 0-6 to Honduras in their second encounter.
However, in a strong display, Lady Jags, behind Anaya Willabus (21st, 38th), Sandra Johnson (30th, 82nd) and Jalade Trim (47th, 53rd), defeated the Turks and Caicos Islands 6-0.
St Kitts & Nevis, Curaçao and Honduras will also join the Land of Many Waters in the elimination round of the 2022 CONCACAF Women’s U17 Championships.
Guyana will now play the winner from Group E of the Championships which includes Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama and Nicaragua.
Group F comprises Canada, Jamaica, Bermuda, and host nation Dominican Republic.
Four-time winners, USA, will be in Group G along with Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Grenada, while Haiti, Cuba, Guatemala and El Salvador will be in Group H.
According to CONCACAF, with the global pandemic still affecting many countries within their region that were originally participating in the competition, it was necessary for them to amend the competition’s format.
At the conclusion of the event, the champions, runners-up and third-place finishers will qualify for the 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India in October of 2022.
The United States are the current champions (fourth title overall) of the CWU17 following a 3-2 win over Mexico in the 2018 Final.
Guyana had qualified for the CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championships for the first time in 2019, but the competition was cancelled due to the pandemic.
