Road to the Dominican Republic - 2024 u17 World Cup

[red card]

With Canada still ranked third in Concacaf's u17 rankings, they'll have to go again through the Qualifiers to join USA & Mexico in the Championship stage.

The draw for the Qualifiers was held today wihich saw Canada placed in Group F with Bermuda, Guyana and Dominica. The six group winners will advance. 

The Qualifying round robin group stage will be played between August 26 - September 3. Concacaf will confirm the schedule, countries, and stadiums in the coming days.

Most recent editions have been held in the Dominican Republic but given the World Cup is set for DR next year, we'll have to see if Concacaf stays the course.

https://www.concacaf.com/en/under-17s-women/article/draw-reveals-groups-for-2023-concacaf-women-s-u-17-qualifiers/

[red card]

6 short episodes on Quebec's Excel team tour of France in the spring produced by CF Montreal. With subtitles but the staff do switch between French & English

These are 15-18 year olds with some of them likely to be on Canada's next u17 team.

They played against against Paris Seine Ouest, CA Paris 14 along with Paris FC and PSG youth teams.

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 7/6/2023 at 11:30 PM, red card said:

The Qualifying round robin group stage will be played between August 26 - September 3. Concacaf will confirm the schedule, countries

The venues and the schedule are out and Canada's group will play in the D.R.

https://www.concacaf.com/under-17s-women/article/concacaf-announces-host-venues-and-match-schedule-for-2023-concacaf-women-s-u-17-qualifiers/

Assuming we qualify, it isn't clear to me yet where the main CONCACAF qualifying tournament will take place.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

21 players called up.

https://canadasoccer.com/news/canada-prepare-for-concacaf-womens-under-17-qualifiers/

Very typical in the sense that the 4 big provinces are represented but not a single player from outside BC,AB,ON & QC. 

[red card]

85-90% of registered female youth players are from 4 provinces. All the other provinces each have less than 8k players (pre covid numbers). 

Lack of players in the other provinces also implies their youth development systems aren't at the levels needed to develop national team players consistently.

Registered female youth players peaked in 2008 and then dropped 31% by 2019. Covid knocked it further down. As of last year, it is down 34% from 2008. In this period, Canada won 2 bronze, 1 gold and hosted 1 World Cup and 1 u20 World Cup.

There has been some reporting that there has been growth in non-registered players in order to reduce costs for the player and the club.

US Project Play report also says soccer participation (along with 15 other sports) for 6-12 age group has fallen since 2008 due to a byproduct of early sport specialization, high costs, fewer quality recreational opportunities and declining birth rate.

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Update on our 3 opponents

Guyana pulls out of the tournament:

https://www.facebook.com/GuyanaFootballFederationInc/posts/294734883245885/

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2023/08/25/sports/financial-constraints-primary-reason-for-concacaf-womens-u17-withdrawal-forde/

 

Dominica is in the D.R.; they had a training camp in Guadeloupe first.

 

The Bermuda U17 team:

https://www.bermudafa.com/home-news-posts/adams-names-bermuda-team-2023-concacaf-womens-under-17-qualifiers

 

The first match is against Dominica on Saturday. It looks like they will only play 2 matches with the Guyana match obviously being cancelled.

 

This post has been edited.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[red card]

It seems there are a large number of countries who can't handle the match load. Like Guyana, it is likely due to financial and staff constraints.

The drop out list includes Martinique, Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Martin, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Turks & Caicos, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Anguilla and Guyana.

So, that leaves Group C with only Costa Rica and Guatemala. And Group E has only Jamaica and Panama. These teams will play 2 matches against each other. First match was a draw between Jamaica and Panama.

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 8/24/2023 at 8:41 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The first match is against Dominica on Saturday.

The match is here:

https://www.concacaf.com/concacaf-go/

Only 4 minutes in and the Baby Red are already up by a goal.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Halftime:

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The first match against Dominica finishes 21-0.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 8/26/2023 at 11:16 AM, red card said:

And Group E has only Jamaica and Panama. These teams will play 2 matches against each other. First match was a draw between Jamaica and Panama.

 

Interesting that despite being hosted in Jamaica, Panama won the 2nd match.

Panama are through and Jamaica don't even make it to the main qualifying tournament.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The main CONCACAF qualifying tournament will be in 2024.

Joining the USA and Mexico are:

Haiti, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico & Panama.

Short of an absolute disaster we will join those teams tomorrow.

The El Salvador vs Trinidad and Tobago match will likely be a much more even contest and will determinethe 8th team.

My guess is either the D. R. will host the main tournament again or one of the smaller qualified teams. If El Salvador make it through, I can picture them hosting.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

21 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

...we will join those teams tomorrow.

The El Salvador vs Trinidad and Tobago match will likely be a much more even contest and will determinethe 8th team...

We win 9-0 and El Salvador win 6-0.

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The CSA has confirmed that the main qualification tournament will be in 2024.

The Haitian press is speculating that Mexico will host because the D.R. is hosting the actual World Cup tournament.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 9/1/2023 at 12:09 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The Haitian press is speculating that Mexico will host because the D.R. is hosting the actual World Cup tournament.

Mexico will host in February 2024. From the 1st to the 11th.

https://www.concacaf.com/under-17s-women/article/mexico-named-host-for-2024-concacaf-women-s-u-17-championship/

Games will be in Toluca, so at altitude.

The draw is Tuesday.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 9/29/2023 at 3:43 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The draw is Tuesday.

USA, Puerto Rico and Panama will be in our group.

Edit:

The schedule is now out:

https://www.concacaf.com/under-17s-women/article/draw-reveals-groups-for-2024-concacaf-women-s-u-17-championship/

We will play the weaker teams (Puerto Rico and Panama) first.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[red card]

Canada is holding a week long camp in Lisbon starting today and will play Portugal twice.

21 players selected with 17 that played in the Prelim Qualifiers. 4 new faces are goalkeeper Sierra Gallant from Suburban FC, defenders Bridget Mutipula from Caps and Katherine Ozard from NDC-ON, and midfielder Emily Wong from Caps. 

4 players excluded from previous squad are Sadie Brisbin, Yasmin Décombe, Bianca Hanisch & Noelle Henning.

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by red card

[narduch]

 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The USA (who are in our group) are holding their final prep camp in California.

36 players. 35 born in 2007 and only 1 player is a 2008.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2023/12/us-under-17-womens-youth-national-to-open-2024-with-36-player-training-camp-in-san-diego

Obviously, if anybody knows their player pool and knows of any dual-nationals (especially Canadian ones) please share.

U.S. Soccer claims 21 players will be chosen for the tournament but they have been known to bring alternates with them.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

The USA name their squad:

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2024/01/schoepfer-names-usa-roster-for-2024-concacaf-womens-u-17-championship

No kickoff times announced by CONCACAF but the USA have announced the times for their matches. Early kickoff times it would seem.

 

 

Mexico names 26 players (that will later be cut to 21 players) :

https://miseleccion.mx/noticias/5413/Convocatoria-de-la-Selección-Nacional-de-México-Sub-17

 

 

Our rival Panama is holding a domestic camp and will play to friendlies against Costa Rica:

https://www.fepafut.com/blog/2024/01/13/juliana-tejera-cada-una-esta-poniendo-de-su-parte-para-sacar-un-buen-resultado-en-premundial/

https://www.fepafut.com/blog/2024/01/15/panama-sub-17-disputara-dos-amistosos-ante-costa-rica/

 

Edited January 18 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[narduch]

 

 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Thanks for the link @narduch

https://canadasoccer.com/news/canada-soccer-unveils-roster-for-the-2024-concacaf-womens-u-17-championship/

So they are leaving to Toluca today, which is smart because they will have plenty of time to acclimatize to ~2660m.

I don't have the time to do it, so perhaps @red card or somebody else may wish to tell us how the player pool has evolved from August 2023 qualifying to that Portugal camp to now.

Any surprise inclusions or omissions?

[narduch]

4 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Thanks for the link @narduch

https://canadasoccer.com/news/canada-soccer-unveils-roster-for-the-2024-concacaf-womens-u-17-championship/

So they are leaving to Toluca today, which is smart because they will have plenty of time to acclimatize to ~2660m.

I don't have the time to do it, so perhaps @red card or somebody else may wish to tell us how the player pool has evolved from August 2023 qualifying to that Portugal camp to now.

Any surprise inclusions or omissions?

For me the interesting thing is the players come from only 3 places (CF Montreal, Vancouver Whitecaps and NDC Ontario)

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Our group stage opponent Panama just played a series of two friendlies vs Costa Rica.

First match: Costa Rica 5  -  Panama 2

Second match: Costa Rica nil  -  Panama 3

[red card]

Compared to the squad for the qualifiers last summer, 4 players are left out: Brisbin, Hanisch, Décombe & Gaynor.

Compared to the squad that went to Portugal in November, 3 players are left out: Gallant, Ozard & Gaynor.

FB Rocci and F McLeod are the only 2 players not featured in the previous 2 squads. There are 10 players from the u15 squad. 

While the players come only from the 3 national development centre clubs, there are players from 5 provinces. Otherwise, only players playing for US-based clubs tend to get selected.

But Alberta is under repped with only 1 player. We'll have to see if having a national development centre starting this year will increase Alberta's pool. I believe Halifax has a quasi NDC program but we haven't seen any bump in Atlantic players. 

With DR as WC host, only 2 spots are available. So, there is no third place second chance match for Canada if they lose again to Mexico in the semis.

Advantage Mexico since they're playing at home. Their prelim squad has 7 players from US-based clubs and 6 that lost in penalties after a 0-0 draw to Canada in the u15 semis. Then, we'll have to see if LigaMX pro-based development pathway continues to shine over Canada's NDC pathway. 

US also has 2 u17 pro players for the first time. Barcenas is entering her 2nd season with SD Wave while Pfeiffer will be in her first for KC. 11 players are from the u15 squad that defeated Canada 1-0 in group stage and 4-1 in the final. 

Edited January 23 by red card