U-20 USWNT drawn into Group A for Concacaf Women’s Championship

CHICAGO – The U.S. Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team will face the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua in Group A play at the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship, running from Feb. 25-March 12 in the Dominican Republic. The top three finishers in the tournament will advance to represent the region at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup alongside host Costa Rica, which qualifies automatically.

All 40 tournament matches will take place at two stadiums in Santo Domingo – Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez and Estadio Panamericano.

U.S. U-20 WYNT head coach Tracey Kevins will announce the USA’s roster for the tournament on Tuesday.

The U.S. opens the competition against Nicaragua on Friday, Feb. 25, faces Puerto Rico on Sunday, Feb. 27 and finishes the group stage vs. host Dominican Republic on Tuesday, March 1. After round-robin play, the top three teams in each group will advance to the 16-team knockout stage that will run from March 4-12 joined by four group winners (Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Curaçao and Suriname) from a preliminary qualifying round which was played in Curaçao in September. The tournament’s two finalists, plus the winner of the third-place game, will advance to August’s 2022 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

The quarterfinals will take place on Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5, while the semifinals are set for Tuesday, March 8. The confederation champion will be crowned on Saturday, March 12, plus the final U-20 Women’s World Cup berth will also be determined with the third-place game.

USA – GROUP A SCHEDULE

Date	Match-up	Kickoff (ET)	Venue
Friday, Feb. 25	USA vs. Nicaragua	3 p.m.	Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez
Sunday, Feb. 27	USA vs. Puerto Rico	3 p.m.	Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez
Tuesday, March 1	USA vs. Dominican Republic	6 p.m.	Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez

The top four teams in the Concacaf Women’s U-20 rankings – the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Haiti – were seeded for the draw into Groups E through H. The full listing of groups is below:

Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
USA	Mexico	Canada	Haiti
Dominican Republic	Honduras	Trinidad and Tobago	Jamaica
Puerto Rico	Guyana	El Salvador	Guatemala
Nicaragua	Panama	St. Kitts and Nevis	Cuba

Groups A, B, C and D were contested as qualifying groups before the tournament proper begins on Feb. 25, with each group winner advancing directly to the knockout round.

QUALIFYING GROUPS

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
1. Bermuda* (6 pts.)	1. Cayman Islands* (6 pts.)	1. Curaçao* (6 pts.)	1. Suriname* (6 pts.)
2. St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1 pt.)	2. Bahamas (3 pts.)	2. Saint Lucia (3 pts.)	2. Belize (3 pts.)
3. U.S. Virgin Islands (1 pt.)	3. Anguilla (0 pts.)	3. Antigua and Barbuda (0 pts.)	3. Grenada (0 pts.)

*Qualified to tournament proper

The U.S. is looking to claim its record seventh Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship after winning the 2020 edition in the Dominican Republic. Nine teams are qualified to the U-20 Women’s World Cup thus far, in addition to host Costa Rica, representatives from Asia, Europe and Oceania were nominated by their respective confederations after their continental qualifying tournaments were canceled. Japan, Korea DPR and Korea Republic will represent Asia, New Zealand will come from Oceania, while France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain will carry the banner for Europe.