Women’s U-20, Women’s U-17 championship groups set

November 25, 2009

Defending and two-time champion Canada will face Costa Rica, Cuba and host Guatemala in the first round of the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship, while the reigning world champion United States will be grouped with Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.

With the field set, the eight teams will head to Guatemala City for the January 19-30 tourney at the 17,000-seat Estadio Cementos Progreso. After the last two tournaments were held in Mexico, this will be the first time since the event began as an under-19 championship in 2002 that it will be held in Central America.

Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba and Guatemala were drawn into Group A with the United States, Mexico, Trinidad and Jamaica placed in Group B.

For the Women’s Under-17 Championship, the defending champion United States will face host Costa Rica, Haiti and either the Dominican Republic or Cayman Islands in Group B. Group A will be comprised of Canada, Mexico, Jamaica and a second team from Central America.

Costa Rica will stage the second U-17 championship March 9-20 in Estadio Saprissa and Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in the San Jose area.

The Dominican Republic and Cayman Islands must face each other in a two-leg playoff for the last of three berths from the Caribbean, set for December 5 and December 12. The remaining Central American side will be decided among Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador starting Tuesday night and finishing Saturday in Panama.

Both draws were conducted Monday by Deputy General Secretary Ted Howard during the CONCACAF Executive Committee meeting in New York.

The full schedules for both tournaments are expected to be announced next month.

NEW YORK

Concacaf

Tags: berths, canada mexico, cayman islands, champion canada, committee meeting, concacaf women, defending champion, deputy general, executive committee, general secretary, guatemala city, january 19, progreso, saprissa, ted howard, time champion, tuesday night, world champion, york women

Benitez tells Reds to keep eyes on league prize

January 6, 2009

LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) – Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has told the Premier League leaders not to be distracted from their quest to win the English title by the hype surrounding their derby FA Cup tie with Everton.The Merseyside rivals will clash twice in a week, in the Premier League on January 19 and then in the fourth round of the Cup the following weekend.Both matches are at Liverpool’s Anfield home ground and Benitez told the club’s official website on Monday: "It is a draw which will excite everyone in the city, because everyone knows about the great rivalry that exists between the two clubs."But we must remember that we have some big games coming up in the league before the cup tie – and we will be taking one game at a time," the cautious Spaniard added."Only when the cup game comes around will it become our focus. Before then we play Stoke and Everton in the league, so we must keep our attention on those matches."But it is good to have so many important matches, because it shows that your team is doing well."Liverpool have been boosted by the return of fit-again Fernando Torres, who scored on his comeback in last weekend’s 2-0 Cup win over Preston.Reds defender Jamie Carragher said that Torres’ absence had perhaps been a help to the Spanish star."Having Torres back has given everyone a big lift. It is great when you see a player of that calibre coming back for the second half of the season," said Torres."We hope the time he has been out will refresh him, because he had a long season with the Euro 2008 finals last summer."A lot of players have played a lot of games this season, because the manager hasn’t changed it around so much."It has been a feather in the cap for everyone concerned with the club that we have reached the top of the table without having the best striker in the world in the side."

Written by: AFP