Trinidad and Tobago has been drawn in Group A of the CONCACAF Under 20 Men’s championship scheduled to take place from November 1st at the IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida.
The tournament which also serves as qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Under 20 Men’s World Cup, comprises of six groups and following the draw on Thursday, T&T was placed alongside United States, Puerto Rico, St Vincent/Grenadines, Suriname and US Virgin Islands.The draw was conducted using a single-blind system, involving five pots. Based on the Concacaf Men’s Under-20 Ranking, the top six ranked teams were seeded into position one of each group, while the remaining 29 teams were distributed in five pots.
T&T will open their campaign against St Vincent on November 1st. They then face Puerto Rico on November 3rd, USA on November 5th, Suriname on the 7th and US Virgin Islands on the 9th of November. Only the group winners will advance to the qualification stage which will be played in two groups of three teams each.
A new format was previously announced by CONCACAF for this championship, 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. The United States are the defending champions. See Full Schedule following the link below.
CONCACAF Under 20 Men’s Schedule
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The Trinidad and Tobago National Under-20 Team, which has not kicked a ball in over a month, must topple the United States to have any chance at qualifying for the Poland 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
The young Soca Warriors, who were not among Concacaf’s six seeded under-20 teams, were drawn today with hosts USA, Puerto Rico, Suriname, the US Virgin Islands and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Trinidad and Tobago open their campaign on 1 November against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Only the group winners advance to the next round, where four from the six competing teams will go on to the World Cup. The confederation’s under-20 competition, which will be staged at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, will also decide the qualifiers for the 2019 Pan American Games men’s football tournament in Lima, Peru.
Concacaf’s six seeded under-20 teams, according to a new ranking system, are—in order—the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador. Trinidad and Tobago are ranked ninth in the confederation behind fellow Caribbean outfit, Cuba, who are seventh.
The National Under-20 Team have not trained since they returned from Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in August and coach Russell Latapy blamed their inactivity on unpaid salaries from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and, in particular, the perceived disrespect shown to the staff by president David John-Williams.
Concacaf Under-20 Championship
(Group A)
United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Puerto Rico, St Vincent and the Grenadines, US Virgin Islands.