USA to face Canada, Jamaica and Panama in Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship

CHICAGO – The U.S. Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team will face Canada, Jamaica and Panama in Group A play at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship, set for May 24-June 3 in the Dominican Republic. The top three finishers in the tournament will advance to represent the region at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, for which a host has yet to be named.

The U.S. was placed into Group A and opens the competition against Panama on Wednesday, May 24 (7 p.m. ET), faces Jamaica on Friday, May 26 (6 p.m. ET) and finishes the group stage vs. Canada on Sunday, May 28 (6 p.m. ET). Group B features Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and host Dominican Republic.

USA – GROUP A SCHEDULE – 2023 CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP

The U.S. will be looking to claim its record eighth Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship after winning the 2020 and 2022 editions in the Dominican Republic.

“There’s nothing more valuable than meaningful games to help young players grow and every game in the Dominican Republic will be important,” said U-20 WYNT head coach Tracey Kevins. “We have not had a lot of time with this group during this cycle, so this tournament will be sort of ‘learn as you go,’ but that’s always case with our younger players. Fortunately, many of them have played together for various Youth National Teams so we’ll have a united group that understands the culture and we’ll be ready to hit the ground in the DR with some momentum.”

U.S. U-20 WYNT head coach Tracey Kevins will name the USA’s 21-player roster for the tournament soon.

While the last two Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championships have been contested with 20 nations and required seven matches to win the tournament, the competition has returned to the original eight-team format which features two groups of four teams each. The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals and the winners of those two matches will advance to the Championship Match and qualify for the World Cup. The winner of the Third-Place Match will earn Concacaf’s third and final berth in the World Cup.

The 16 tournament matches will be played at two stadiums in the Dominican Republic – Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo and Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal. The USA will play all its matches at Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez, named after the Dominican Republic track legend who won two Olympic gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles.

The semifinals will take place on Thursday, June 1 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET while the Championship Match (6 p.m. ET) and Third-Place Match (3 p.m. ET) will take place on Saturday, June 3. The final four matches will all be played at Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez.

The top two teams in the Concacaf Women’s U-20 rankings – the U.S. and Mexico – earned berths straight into the final tournament while the other six teams had to win their pre-qualifying groups.