The Concacaf Women's U-20 Championship begins at 3p.m. ET for the US as they take on Cuba at 3 p.m., see it from Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez on Concacaf Go, Facebook, YouTube & TUDN. The same place to watch holds true for the 24th @3 p.m for the Domincan Republic & 6 p.m for the 26th Honduras games.
This is the 10th such tourney as it was first the Women's U-19 Championship. A total of 20 nations rather than the previoius 2 groups of 4, now 16 countries will play in 4 groups of 4, and another 4 go straight to the Sweet 16 by way of an already played pre-qual. tourney. The top trio out of the goups go to the next round, meeting up with those 4, then the fun begins, win or go home. Both opponents of the final are in for the Cup. The typical 3 will not go through as the Cup is being held in Concacaf, but now they get 4 teams as the hosting is being shared between Costa Rica & Panama, both getting automatic bids. The US leads with 5 wins and seek to get to their 2nd hand as they have taken the last 4 of 5. The initial games had no winner as both goup winners moved on without a playoff. The US then reeled off 5 of the following 8 titles, dropping the final games to Canada in 2004 & '08 as well as Mexico in 2018. They have made the final every time, taking on Canada 5x and El Tri 3, the 2018 loss was in pk's. 37-2-4 overall in the tourney, yes I double checked that record. In the beginning of the games, the US really found the back of the net with 255 goals over 9 games conceding just 17. The most recent games were their most challenging, with a trio of close games to have 9 points then besting Haiti in pk's to get to the World Cup.
How important is this for development of players on their way to the senior NT, consider these names among those who have scored here: Lindsay Tarpley, Heather O'Reilly, Leslie Osburne, Yael Averbuch, Rachel Buehler, Amy Rodriguez, Allie Long, Lauren Cheney, Kelley O'Hara, Alex Morgan, Meghan Klingenberg, Sydney Leroux, Kristie Mewis, LIndsey Horan, Julie Johnston, Morgan Brian, Mallory Pugh, Tierna Davidson & Andi Sullivan.
Others already in the Cup: France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, New Zealand, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic.
Getting here they went up agains many top teams in the world, Sweden, Germany, Japan,France. 15 of the 20 player roster are in college as 3 are with youth teams, the sole pro is Sophia Smith, the top pick by the Thorns in the NWSL draft, the first teenager selected #1. Talia DellaPeruta is signed as an amateur with German team FC Koln of the Frauen-Bundesliga.
Those with local ties selected by Laura Harvey: Julia Dohle Scarsdale, Emily Mason Flemington NJ, Brianna Pinto Durham NC (father played in Brentwood), Rebecca Jarrett Clinton NJ.