TT U-20 footballers resume CONCACAF preparations

THE TT Under-20 men’s football team will resume their preparations for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship with a training session at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella today at 9 am.

The team, coached by ex-national playmaker and captain Russell Latapy, are gearing up towards the World Cup qualifiers at the IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida, United States from November 1-21. However, it will be virtually a race against time for the team to get ready for the CONCACAF Championships, as they have not practised together for the past four months, according to team manager William Wallace in a story on Sunday’s Nzewsday.

Wallace was quoted as saying, “This cannot be business as usual. It is our hope that good sense will prevail in the shortest possible time to have this team back in training, to give it even the slightest possible chance of advancing beyond the group stage.”

TT will feature in Group A and will meet St Vincent and the Grenadines in their first match on November 1t. They then face Puerto Rico (November 3), defending CONCACAF champions United States (November 5), Suriname (November 7) and US Virgin Islands (November 9).

The other participating teams are Mexico, Jamaica, Aruba, Nicaragua, Grenada, St Martin (Group B); Honduras, Cuba, Antigua/Barbuda, Dominican Republic, Belize, St Maarten (Group C); Panama, Canada, St Kitts/Nevis, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique (Group D); Costa Rica, Haiti, Bermuda, St Lucia, Barbados (Group E); El Salvador, Guatemala, Curacao, Guyana and Cayman Islands (Group F).

Only the winners of the six groups will advance to the next phase of two qualifying from which the top two teams from each group will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Under-20 Men’s World Cup in Poland.

The 2018 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship will be the sixth edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (27th edition if all eras included).

A new format was announced, removing the regional Central American and Caribbean qualifiers and guaranteeing each entrant a minimum of four competitive games. The competition will determine the four CONCACAF representatives at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland. It will also determine the CONCACAF teams playing at the 2019 Pan American Games men’s football tournament in Lima, Peru.