CHICAGO (July 24, 2006) – CONCACAF announced today the dates and venues for the 2007 Under-20 Final Round qualifying groups, which will take place in Mexico and Panama next year. A total of eight teams – four in each group – will be looking to progress to the 2007 U-20 FIFA World Cup in Canada.
Group A of the 2007 CONCACAF Under-20 Final Round will take place from Jan. 17-21 in Panama City, Panama. All six matches will take place at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez.
Group B will occur a month later from Feb. 21-25 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, which is on the Western coast of Mexico. All six matches will take place at Estadio Carlos Gonzalez y Gonzalez.
The U.S. will join hosts Panama and Mexico in the final qualifying groups, along with three teams from the Caribbean qualification, the winners of the two Central American Triangulars. The U.S. will most likely end up in the qualifying group in Panama.
The top two squads from each of these groups will qualify to the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, which will take place from June 30-July 22 across six cities – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Burnaby, and Victoria.
Caribbean Qualifying UpdateBermuda won the first of five Caribbean Zone qualifying group, taking Group A handily by shutting out all three of its opponents and tallying 18 goals. Bermuda defeated the Bahamas 2-0, the British Virgin Islands 9-0 and the U.S. Virgin Islands 7-0.
The winners of each of the four groups will join Bermuda, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean Second Round Qualification where three teams will progress to one of the two CONCACAF Final Round groups next year.
Group B includes the Dominican Republic, Anguilla, Cayman Island and Cuba, and will take place from July 28-August 1 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Group C consists of Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis and host Saint-Martin. The teams will square off from 2-6 August in Cedex.
St. Lucia will stage Group D in Vieux Fort, going up against Barbados, Grenada and St. Vincent & The Grenadines from August 20-24.
Group E will take place from Aug. 6-10 in Paramirbo, Surinam, with the host being joined by Aruba, Guyana and Netherlands Antilles.
Elsewhere, the winners of the two Central American Zone Triangular Qualifiers being held in Guatemala and Honduras, respectively, next month will also advance to the Final Round.
Did you know?