Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 20 team will commence its quest for a place in the 2009 FIFA World Youth Cup in Egypt with final round qualifying matches against the best of CONCACAF from March 5-16 at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya and the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet.
Along with host Trinidad & Tobago, the tournament will consist another Caribbean winner; Canada, Mexico and the USA from the North American Zone; and Costa Rica and El Salvador from Central America. A final place will be determined in a playoff between the Caribbean runner-up and Honduras, which finished third in Central American qualifying.
A draw for the tournament will be held in January, following the CFU Qualifying tournament and the playoff between Honduras, the third place finisher from UNCAF, and the second place finisher from the CFU (TBD).
Currently the CFU Qualifying Tournament is nearing completion of the Second Stage, which consists of three tournaments, from which St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Haiti have advanced to the CFU Championship Tournament. The winner of the 3rd Tournament in Aruba later this month, which will include the hosts, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, will provide the third qualifier. The fourth qualifier will be the best second place finisher from the three tournaments.
Currently Zoran Vranes is overseeing the preparations of the National Under 20 team which travels later this month for a couple warm up matches against Venezuela’s National Under 20 team.
In related news, The seven-member CONCACAF Executive board led by President Jack. Warner agreed to tighten the stadium standards after allowing teams in this year’s inaugural Champions League tournament to play its home games within its region if its regular home venue did not have adequate facilities such as power supply, floodlighting and locker rooms.
The board also decided to review its qualifying procedures for the men’s U-17 and U-20 championships beginning in 2011. The present system has both Central America and the Caribbean staging separate qualifying tournaments to determine two berths each in the eight-team championship, and then having one team from each region play off to determine a fifth place. The three North American teams: Canada, Mexico and the United States, qualify automatically.
The matter was sent to the youth committee to devise specific proposals.
Additionally, the committee was informed that the six teams advancing to the final round of World Cup qualifying will learn their match schedule during a draw to be staged November 22 in South Africa in conjunction with the FIFA Confederations Cup draw. The United States, Costa Rica and El Salvador already have clinched their places in the “hexagonal” with the remaining three places to be decided on November 19.
The board also heard that seminars run by CONCACAF in cooperation with FIFA to improve administration, refereeing and coaching increased dramatically this year. Forty-four courses will be conducted by the end of the year, up from the 10 in 2007.
2009 CONCACAF U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP
Trinidad & Tobago, March 6-15
March 6 - Match Day 1 – Group A (Dwight York Stadium -Tobago)
March 7 - Match Day 1 – Group B (Marvin Lee Stadium - Trinidad)
March 8- Match Day 2 – Group A (Dwight York Stadium -Tobago)
March 9 - Match Day 2 – Group B (Marvin Lee Stadium - Trinidad)
March 10 – Match Day 3 – Group A (Dwight York Stadium -Tobago)
March 11 – Match Day 3 – Group B (Marvin Lee Stadium – Trinidad);
March 12 – Rest Day
March 13 – Semi-Finals (Marvin Lee Stadium - Trinidad)
March 14 – Rest Day
March 15 – Final & 3rd Place matches (Marvin Lee Stadium - Trinidad)
Top 4 teams will qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt, Sept. 25-Oct. 16, 2009.