T&T Under-17 men footballers who will have Shawn Cooper as coach have been drawn in avery difficult Group F in which they will face the USA and Canada as well as Caribbean neighbours Barbados in the 2023 Concacaf U-17 Men’s Championship (CU17C).
The World Cup qualifying competition will take place February 11-26, 2023, in Guatemala, and will include the participation of 20 Concacaf Member Associations with Mexico, Panamam Guatemala and Curacao being drawn in Group E; Group G comprising Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba, and Guadeloupe, and Group H made up of Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, and Suriname following the draw which was made on Thursday in Miami, Florida.
After group stage play, the top three nations in each group will advance to the knockout stage, joining the four 2022 Concacaf Under-17 Men’s Qualifiers (CU17Q) group winners; Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico.
The four-round knockout stage (round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and final) will be played in a single match elimination format and the four semifinalists will qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Peru 2023.
Matches will be divided across two venues, the Estadio Nacional Doroteo Guamuch Flores in Guatemala City and the Estadio Pensativo in Antigua.
In the previous edition of the Concacaf Under-17 Championship, played in Bradenton, FL, in 2019, Mexico won its eighth title at this age level, with a 2-1 extra time win over the United States in the final.