Canadian women ready for resumption of CONCACAF U-17 soccer tournament

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The young players were at regional training centres in B.C., Ontario and Quebec before gathering in Florida on May 28 to gear up for the tournament resumption.

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The tournament is now down to six teams, given Puerto Rico and Nicaragua both lost their first two outings and were eliminated from advancing to the semifinals. Mexico (2-0-0) and Haiti (2-0-0) will meet Friday to decide the order of finish atop Pool A.

The Canadian women beat Bermuda 3-0 before being told to leave Nicaragua on the eve of the Costa Rica game. A win Wednesday and Canada is guaranteed a semifinal berth. Canada and the U.S. meet Friday, likely to decide who tops Pool B.

Priestman says her players are not thinking past Costa Rica, which lost 4-0 to the U.S. in its opener.

“The girls are focused. There’s no distractions and we’re here to get the job done,” she added. 

The group winner meets the runner-up in the other pool in the semifinals. The third-place team also books its ticket to Uruguay.

Priestman says there is opportunity in Florida out of the “sad situation” in Nicaragua.

“The benefit of this whole situation unfolding as a coach is you know you’ve got four teams to scout and prepare for rather than six,” said Priestman. “I think that’s a real benefit.”

She also said her players, having already played a game, have got over any nerves.

Since suspension of the Nicaragua tournament, FIFA has held the draw for the Uruguay U-17 World Cup.

The CONCACAF champion will play in a group with Brazil, Japan and South Africa while the CONCACAF runner-up is grouped with Colombia, South Korea and Spain. The third CONCACAF qualifier was drawn in a pool with Cameroon, Germany and North Korea.  

Canada had qualified for all five previous editions of the U-17 World Cup, making the quarterfinals in 2008, ’12 and ’14.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press