U-20 women footballers in tough group

The Mexican cities of Cordoba and Veracruz will stage the January 18-27 eight-team tournament, from which three nations will qualify to the World Championship this summer.

Hosts Mexico will play in Group "A" along with the defending CONCACAF champions Canada, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago and Group "B" has El Salvador, USA, Jamaica and Suriname.

Trinidad and Tobago will open their Group "A" assignments against Canada on January 18, before facing Mexico two days later and Panama on January 22.

In Group "B", Jamaica start against the USA on January 19 when Suriname tackle El Salvador. Jamaica play El Salvador while Suriname meet the USA on January 21, and the group fixtures end on January 23 with Jamaica facing Suriname and the USA meeting El Salvador.

The winners and runners-up of each group will earn a place in the event’s semi-finals on January 25, with the winners of those games earning a place as CONCACAF representatives in FIFA’s Under-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia from August 16 to September 2.

CONCACAF’s third spot in the FIFA event will be determined by the third-place play-off match between the two losing semi-finalists on January 27, before the two finalists meet for the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 crown later in the day.

The busy CONCACAF season includes six major events taking place in the first seven months of the year. Along with the FIFA World Cup in Germany starting on June 9 at which a record four CONCACAF qualifiers will compete, the Confederation will also hold Beach Soccer final round qualifying, the annual CONCACAF Champions’ Cup, the 2006 CONCACAF Congress and the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games will be staged in Cartagena, Colombia, from July.