CONCACAF U20 qualifying (for the cycle ending in 2025) + preparation & news

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, El Diego said:

The one time switch label is a slight misnomer as there is a provision for a 'one time switch back'. This post summarizes:

I haven't reviewed the post in detail (not that I discount rydermike's interpretation) but the part on the one time switch and switch back tracks with how I remember it. With the way you've phrased it, the switch itself is not permanently binding on the player as he could theoretically switch back, but being fielded in a match after a switch is permanently binding. I don't know that any player has ever done a one time switch back.

Thanks, this is what I was looking for. What I understand is that he can’t play for Mexico at any point during the U-20 Concacaf Championship- though it is unclear if that includes the U20 World Cup, since the concacaf championship is a qualifying tournament but also a distinct tournament. On top of that, if he ever does switch to Mexico, he has to physically play for them, and if he doesn’t, he can switch back to us, but once he switches back to us, he’s capped.

[Vasi]

2 hours ago, VinceA said:

So what exactly do we know about Myles Morgan?

As per the Canadian Soccer Daily article from today..he is on trial with an unknown club.....Bedford?? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Kadenge]

here's an article about Myles Morgan from 2023

MLS NEXT Rising Star of Matchday 21: Myles Morgan | MLSNEXTPro.com

He was with DeRo TFC academy, an affiliate of TFC. That's probably why he did a DeRo type celebration after his first goal for Canada.

[xabuep2]

I've looked for a video summary of the match between Canada vs Trinidad and Tobago, but there doesn't seem to be any 😑.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, xabuep2 said:

I've looked for a video summary of the match between Canada vs Trinidad and Tobago, but there doesn't seem to be any 😑.

There is a matchday highlight package from all the group games. You can find it here: https://www.concacaf.com/en/under-20s-men/videos/men-s-under-20-qualifiers-matchday-5-groups-d-and-e/

[Canuckia]

16 hours ago, Vasi said:

As per the Canadian Soccer Daily article from today..he is on trial with an unknown club.....Bedford?? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[PopePouri]

18 hours ago, Vasi said:

As per the Canadian Soccer Daily article from today..he is on trial with an unknown club.....Bedford?? 🤷🏻‍♂️

It's actually Bradford.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

With yesterday's matches (our qualifying group had 4 teams but several had 5 teams), the field is now set.
In every case the highest seeded team won their group. The closest there was to an upset was Nicaragua hosting Cuba.
The draw for the main tournament in July-August will be in April (next month).
Here are the teams listed by the currently posted CONCACAF U20 rankings.
https://www.concacaf.com/rankings/men-s-under-20/

USA
Honduras
Mexico
---
Panama
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
---
Guatemala
El Salvador
Haiti
---
Cuba
Jamaica
Canada

 

A group with Honduras and the Dominican Republic would be the ideal scenario I think.

[dyslexic nam]

14 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

With yesterday's matches (our qualifying group had 4 teams but several had 5 teams), the field is now set.
In every case the highest seeded team won their group. The closest there was to an upset was Nicaragua hosting Cuba.
The draw for the main tournament in July-August will be in April (next month).
Here are the teams listed by the currently posted CONCACAF U20 rankings.
https://www.concacaf.com/rankings/men-s-under-20/

USA
Honduras
Mexico
---
Panama
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
---
Guatemala
El Salvador
Haiti
---
Cuba
Jamaica
Canada

 

A group with Honduras and the Dominican Republic would be the ideal scenario I think.

So just to confirm - those are pots for a draw? With 3 groups of 4 as the end product? 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

8 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

So just to confirm - those are pots for a draw? With 3 groups of 4 as the end product? 

Three groups of 4 has been confirmed. ✅️

The actual pots have not been confirmed. That is speculation on my part. I doubt they update the CONCACAF U20 rankings because if a Pot 3 team would leapfrog a Pot 2 team through a ranking change from the preliminary matches, that Pot 2 team would complain that they did not have the chance to play yet in this cycle.

Edited March 4 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 3/3/2024 at 5:29 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I doubt they update the CONCACAF U20 rankings...

I was wrong. They did update the U20 CONCACAF rankings:

https://www.concacaf.com/rankings/men-s-under-20/

On 3/3/2024 at 4:17 PM, dyslexic nam said:

With 3 groups of 4 as the end product? 

The draw will be Thursday, April 11th at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern.

Group A (presumably Mexico's group) will play in Celaya. Groups B & C will play in Irapuato.

The pots are slightly different from my prediction. Haiti switched pots with Cuba due to the ranking update:

USA
Honduras
Mexico
---
Panama
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
---
Guatemala
El Salvador
Cuba
---
Jamaica
Haiti
Canada

https://www.concacaf.com/under-20s-men/article/2024-concacaf-u-20-championship-official-draw-scheduled-for-april-11/

[Stryker911]

Draw was this morning. Canada is in a group with Honduras, Dominican and El Salvador. Should be a very competitive, but also winnable group. Probably the best we could have hoped for being a pot 4 team.

Edited April 11 by Stryker911

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

12 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

Probably the best we could have hoped for.

Close to the best we could have hoped for.

Group of life.

 

El Salvador will be holding a camp this month:

 

[phresh]

56 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Close to the best we could have hoped for.

Group of life.

 

El Salvador will be holding a camp this month:

 

Canadian Victor Doval is on the list, he plays for Lank Vilaverdense U19's in Portugal. Not sure but I think it's the second ranked U19 league in the country, as many here know the first team plays in second tier though it looks like they'll get relegated. He was on that dominant CS Saint-Laurent U17 team who won National Championships in 2022. His current teammate Marco Marinaro (Tony's son) was on that team as well and lead the province in scoring, this year he has 7 goals and 4 assists in nearly 650 minutes, quite impressive. There's another Canadian on the team, Elliot Sones, though he doesn't seem to be a key piece

Edited April 11 by phresh

[Ivan]

6 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Close to the best we could have hoped for.

Group of life.

 

El Salvador will be holding a camp this month:

 

So is El Salvador actually developing better players or are they just getting better at recruiting dual Nats?

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

3 hours ago, Ivan said:

So is El Salvador actually developing better players or are they just getting better at recruiting dual Nats?

In the last 8 years they have gotten MUCH better at recruiting duals.

[narduch]

Our schedule is set:

https://www.concacaf.com/under-20s-men/article/draw-reveals-groups-and-schedule-for-2024-concacaf-u-20-championship/

Sat. July 10 v Honduras

Tue. July 13 v DR

Fri. July 16 v El Salvador

Top 2 teams + the 2 best 3rd place teams advance to the knock-outs.

The semi-finalists qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

[red card]

22 hours ago, Ivan said:

So is El Salvador actually developing better players or are they just getting better at recruiting dual Nats?

For a decade, a guy scoured the interwebs for players with Salvadoran-sounding names or Salvadoran-looking faces and places on the squads of European professional clubs, MLS academy teams and American college programs. Then, one by one, Alvarado tracked them down. He didn’t work for El Salvador’s federation. He had no authority to recruit players to its national teams. 

Then, a few years ago, El Salvador’s fed hired Diego Henríquez, a former youth international who had played US college soccer, as its first sporting director. Henríquez’s first hire was former US player Hugo Pérez. Both of them believed in stocking El Salvador’s youth teams with better players, from anywhere in the world. Henriquez hired Alvarado as the first full-time scout in the federation’s history.

In 2021, Alvarado’ found a 20-year-old midfielder Enrico Dueñas through the player’s sister, whom he met after methodically going through a list of Dueñas’s Facebook friends.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/sports/soccer/usmnt-el-salvador-world-cup.html

[narduch]

The funny thing is, El Salvador still kinda sucks

[An Observer]

We have a few Alvarado’s on this site.  Maybe the Voyaguers should give out an annual Alvarado award for the person who finds the most promising player with Canadian connections.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, An Observer said:

We have a few Alvarado’s on this site.  Maybe the Voyaguers should give out an annual Alvarado award.

Shout out to @VinceA who wins the award! 

Edited April 13 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Stryker911]

17 year old Andrei Dumitru has signed a short term contract for TFC. Perhaps another on to keep an eye on for this team.

[YorkRegionFan]

1 hour ago, Stryker911 said:

17 year old Andrei Dumitru has signed a short term contract for TFC. Perhaps another on to keep an eye on for this team.

He literally made his TFC II debut on April 7.  He must have really impressed to be the first TFC II player to sign a short term contract this year.

[dyslexic nam]

So what other country is he eligible for? 

[Kadenge]

1 minute ago, dyslexic nam said:

So what other country is he eligible for? 

Romania. He played for our U17s.

Edited April 13 by Kadenge