The Cayman Islands national U17 Boys football team will open their Concacaf U17 Championships campaign with three matches in as many days when the qualifying for the tournament kicks off on 16 March.
The team has been drawn in Group A, along with Grenada, Nicaragua, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States Virgin Islands for the first-round qualifiers at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
On the opening day, Cayman faces Grenada before suiting up against Nicaragua on 17 March and then versus the USVI on 18 March. The team then gets some rest before meeting St Vincent and the Grenadines in their final group game on 22 March.
Cayman must finish top of the group to advance to the next round of the tournament. The squad has been training regularly under head coach Bruce Sigsworth but have lacked international competition since winning their group at the Concacaf U15 Championships in 2017.
See full release from Concacaf below.
| The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) conducted the official draw for the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship, at the Concacaf headquarters, in Miami, FL.
The 2019 edition of the Under-17 Championship, to be hosted at the IMG Academy campus in Bradenton, Florida, will be disputed in three rounds. The first-round qualifiers will take place March 16-24 (Groups A and C) and April 1-9 (Groups B and D), while the Final Championship (Groups E, F, G, H and knockout stage) will take place May 1-16.
The event, which sorted the 35 participating teams into eight groups, was conducted by Concacaf Head of National Team Competitions Carlos Fernandez.
The groups for the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship Qualification Stage are as follows: |
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Group A
Nicaragua
Grenada
Cayman Islands
US Virgin Islands
St Vincent and the Grenadines |
Group B
Dominican Republic
Antigua and Barbuda
Belize
Dominica
Montserrat |
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Group C
Guadeloupe
Bahamas
Aruba
Saint Martin
Bonaire |
Group D
St Kitts and Nevis
Puerto Rico
Martinique
Anguilla |
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| After round-robin play, the top finisher in each group will advance directly to the knockout stage of the competition. The complete schedule of matches the Qualification Stage can be found here.
The groups for the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship Group Stage are as follows: |
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Group E
Mexico
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago
Bermuda |
Group F
USA
Canada
Guatemala
Barbados |
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Group G
Honduras
Haiti
El Salvador
Guyana |
Group H
Costa Rica
Panama
Suriname
Curacao |
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| After round-robin play, the top three finishers in each of the groups will qualify for the knockout stage, joining the four group winners of the Qualification Stage in the Round of 16. The knockout stage of the competition will be played in its entirety in a single match elimination format, with the semifinalists automatically qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru.
The complete schedule of matches for the Group Stage and Knockout stage can be found here.
In the previous edition of the Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship played in Panama in 2017, Mexico won its third straight title and seventh overall, with a 5-4 penalty shootout win over the United States in the final. |
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Corey Smith in action for Cayman at the U15 Championships in 2017.
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