LADY Jags rallied to a 2-1 win over hosts Curacao in the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship first-round Qualifiers, which began on August 17 and will conclude on August 25.

Shanic Thornhill, who suits up for the Fruta Conquerors football club locally, recorded a double for Guyana, netting in the 8th and 74th minutes, while Curacao’s goal came in the 61st minute.

The Stadion Ergilio Hato Willemstad will once again be the battleground for Lady Jags, as they take on St Vincent and the Grenadines today at 18:00hrs, and the Bahamas on August 25 at 17:00hrs.

According to CONCACAF, there will be 32 participating teams. The qualifiers comprise the lowest-ranked 16 teams, based on the CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Ranking as of July 2018, where the top-finisher of each group will advance to the knock-out stage of the championship.

These teams are: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Guyana, Honduras, Martinique, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines and U.S. Virgin Islands.

The remaining 16 teams, consisting of top-ranked teams, based on the CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Ranking as of July 2018, will participate in the Finals Championship. Each has been placed in four groups – E, F, G and H – and will play round-robin, following which “the top three finishers in each of the groups will join the winners of Groups A, B, C and D (from the qualifiers) in the round of 16,” according to CONCACAF.

“The 16 teams participating in the group stage of the Final Championship are: Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States.

The knockout stage of the competition – round of 16, quarterfinals, semi-finals and final – will be played in its entirety in a single-match elimination format, with the finalists and third-place finishers automatically qualifying for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020.”