BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) has announced the host country and groups for the Under-20 Girls World Qualifiers and Girls Championship slated for the Dominican Republic in 2020.
The final two stages of the competition (group stage and knockout round) will take place between February 15 and March 1, 2020.
According to CONCACAF, team St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, St. Lucia and Grenada have all qualified for the knockout stages of the competition by virtue of qualifying from the Caribbean region.
Teams from the North and Central regions will now face-off in the group stages of the competition to join the four teams from the Caribbean.
In a statement on the pending tournament, CONCACAF said that the second round of the competition would also be played in a group format between the top ranked 16 teams according to the rankings as of August 2018.
The 16 participating teams were divided into four groups of four teams:
Group C: United States, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Cuba;
Group D: Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico;
Group E: Canada, Jamaica, Guatemala and El Salvador; and
Group F: Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama and Cayman Islands.
According to CONCACAF, following the group phase, the top three teams in each group would advance to the knockout stage, joining the four-round one top finishers.
The third and final round will begin with the round of 16.
Match #25: 1C vs Saint Lucia;
Match #26: 1E vs Guyana;
Match #27: 2C vs 3E;
Match #28: 2E vs 3C;
Match #29: 1D vs Grenada;
Match #30: 1F vs Saint Kitts and Nevis;
Match #31: 2D vs 3F; and
Match #32: 2F vs 3D.
All knockout round matches (round of 16, quarterfinal, semi-final and final) will be played in a single match elimination format, with the finalist and the third-place match-winner qualifying to the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup 2020.
Team St. Kitts and Nevis will play their game on February 23 against the top team in Group F.
Mexico are the defending champions of the CONCACAF tournament, winning the 2018 edition in Trinidad and Tobago in 4-2 penalty shootout over the United States.
