T&T drawn with hosts Costa Rica for U-20 CONCACAF Final Round

This was determined at the Draw for the Final Round that took place at the National Stadium in San Jose on Tuesday night.

T&T were drawn in Group C alongside the hosts Costa Rica, El Salvador and Bermuda. The Brian Williams-coached team will face “Los Ticos” on February 22nd and El Salvador on February 25th.

In an immediate reaction to T&T’s draw, head coach Williams said he was fairly satisfied with the way T&T’s scheduled was drawn up.

“I must say I am pretty satisfied with the way the draw went, “ Williams told TTFA Media on Tuesday night. “At the end of the day, I always maintain that we have to be concerned about our team and our approach towards our opponents. Costa Rica as the host nation and with their quality of play, will always be a difficult opponent but with no disrespect to the other two teams, Bermuda and El Salvador, I think this is a group we can advance out of,” he added.

“I think we have a fairly good idea of how all the teams in CONCACAF play at this time. The most important thing will be for us to get our preparations right and now that we know what our schedule is, we can adapt to suit in terms of how we prepare as a team for the competition.

“Myself and the manager will get familiar with some of the rules and guidelines at the workshop tomorrow and then it will be back to our preparations with the team. My focus will be on gameplay and physical readiness because we know that this tournament will be the final hurdle for us in terms of qualification for an Under 20 World Cup and the squad is highly motivated to give it our best. We are aware that all the teams in this competition will be coming with everything they have to offer because of what is at stake,” Williams said.

T&T have previously qualified for two FIFA Under 20 Word Cups. Their first appearance was in 1991 at the FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Portugal followed by a second appearance in 2009 at the Finals in Egypt. T&T secured a point at the ’09 Finals, drawing its closing group phase match 0-0 with Paraguay.

Williams and team manager Dunstan Williams will attend the CONCACAF team workshop in San Jose on Wednesday.

Tournament host Costa Rica was seeded into Group C, and will face El Salvador, Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago. In Group A, defending CONCACAF Under-20 Champion Mexico was joined by Antigua & Barbuda, Honduras and Canada, while the United States, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Haiti make up Group B.

The National Stadium and Estadio Ricardo Saprissa will both be used for the tournament, to be played in a new format consisting of a group stage, a classification phase, and the grand final.

Under the new format, designed to increase the number of meaningful, competitive matches, the top two teams from Groups A, B, and C will advance to the Classification Stage, where the Confederation’s four tickets to the World Cup at this level will be determined in round robin play among two groups of three teams each. The top two teams of each of the two Classification Stage groups will qualify as CONCACAF representatives to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017.

The event was conducted with the assistance of Melissa Herrera, Costa Rica Women’s National Team player and Ronald González, former player and coach of the Under-20 and veteran of the full Costa Rican National Team.

For the draw, the Participating Member Associations were ranked and separated into four pots, based on their performance over the last four editions of the competition. Mexico, as current CONCACAF Under-20 Champions was seeded in position A1. The United States, as the best-ranked CONCACAF team in the last edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, was placed in position B1 and Costa Rica as host, earned position C1.

The remaining teams, from pots 2-4, were drawn in order and placed in the group position drawn from Pots A, B and C. The positions of each group winner and runner-up from the group stage were then drawn in group pairs, randomly into the two groups (D and E) for the Classification Stage.

Under-20 Championship Costa Rica 2017 Groups

Group A
Mexico
Antigua & Barbuda
Honduras
Canada

Group B
USA
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Haiti

Group C
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Bermuda
Trinidad & Tobago

CONCACAF Under-20 Championship Costa Rica 2017 – Classification Stage Group Positions

Group D
Second Place Group B
First Place Group A
First Place Group C

Group E
First Place Group B
Second Place Group A
Second Place Group C

CONCACAF Under-20 Championship Costa Rica 2017 Schedule
*Local Time

Friday, February 17, 2017 – Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
17:30 Honduras vs Canada
20:00 Mexico vs Antigua & Barbuda

Saturday, February 18, 2017 – Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
12:30 Saint Kitts and Nevis vs Haiti
15:00 USA vs Panama

Sunday, February 19, 2017 – Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
13:30 Bermuda vs Trinidad & Tobago
16:00 Costa Rica vs El Salvador

Monday, February 20, 2017 – National Stadium
17:00 Antigua & Barbuda vs Honduras
19:30 Mexico vs Canada

Tuesday, February 21, 2017 – National Stadium
14:00 Panama vs Saint Kitts and Nevis
16:30 USA vs Haiti

Wednesday, February 22, 2017 – National Stadium
16:30 El Salvador vs Bermuda
19:00 Costa Rica vs Trinidad & Tobago

Thursday, February 23, 2017 – Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
17:00 Antigua & Barbuda vs Canada
19:30 Mexico vs Honduras

Friday, February 24, 2017 – Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
14:00 Panama vs Haiti
16:30 USA vs Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saturday, February 25, 2017 – National Stadium
13:30 El Salvador vs Trinidad & Tobago
16:00 Costa Rica vs Bermuda

Monday, February 27, 2017 – Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
16:00 Second Place Group B vs First Place Group A
18:30 First Place Group B vs. Second Place Group A

Wednesday, March 01, 2017 – National Stadium
16:30 First Place Group A vs First Place Group C
19:00 Second Place Group A vs Second Place Group C

Friday, March 03, 2017 – National Stadium
17:30 Second Place Group B vs First Place Group C
20:00 First Place Group B vs Second Place Group C

Sunday, March 05, 2017 – National Stadium
15:00 Winner Group D vs. Winner Group E