Schedule set for 2016 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship

CHICAGO (Via U.S. Soccer) – The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) has conducted the final draw for the upcoming CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship, and the United States will face Mexico, Panama and Haiti in Group B play.

The 2015 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship features eight nations divided into two groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group will qualify for the semifinals, with the winners of those games along with the winner of the third-place match earning berths to the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea.

The draw, which was conducted in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, also put host Honduras in Group A with Canada, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

The competition will take place from Dec. 3-13 and will be played Francisco Morazan Stadium and Olympic Stadium in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The USA will play all its group games at Olympic Stadium and opens the tournament on Friday, Dec. 4 against Mexico, faces Panama on Sunday, Dec. 6 and finishes the group against Haiti on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

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“We have tremendous respect for every team in the tournament and we know they want the same thing as we do, to qualify for the World Cup,” said U.S. head coach Michelle French. “I have no doubt each team will be prepared for the challenge, and we will want to be playing our best starting on Dec. 4 against Mexico.”

All three of the USA’s group games kick off at 7:30 p.m. local time/8:30 p.m. ET. The semifinal matches will take place on Friday, Dec. 11, and the Championship and Third-Place match are on Dec. 13. All of the knockout round games will be played at Francisco Morazan Stadium.

As defending champion of this tournament, the USA was pre-seeded atop Group B, and the hosts Honduras were pre-seeded atop Group A.

“Nothing is ever easy in our sport, especially when it comes to the qualifying process in CONCACAF,” said French. “As we saw at the last Women’s World Cup in Canada, the level of play is improving across the world and that’s the case for our region as well as Federations dedicate more resources to their women’s programs.”

The 2016 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup was originally scheduled for South Africa, but after it withdrew as hosts, the tournament was awarded to Papua New Guinea in March of this year.

Half of the field for the 16-team 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup is set. Joining host Papua New Guinea will be Japan, Korea Republic and Korea DPR from Asia, European qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and Sweden and Oceania qualifier New Zealand. Along with the three CONCACAF berths, there are still two berths from Africa and two from South America up for grabs. Up to four stadiums in Papua New Guinea may be utilized for the World Cup tournament.

“Our responsibility and focus always remains the same regardless our opponents,” said French. “Our goal is to qualify for the World Cup. It’s been somewhat of a difficult process putting together the roster due to the college season, but we have a group of players dedicated to preparing in the correct manner in all facets of the game to be able to achieve our goals.”

Broadcast information for the 2015 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship will be released at a later date.

2015 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship
Group B Schedule – USA