CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championships: Guyana battles Haiti in knockouts tomorrow

The nation’s under-20 women’s team the Lady Jags will be faced with yet another difficult task on Saturday night, when they take on Haiti in the Round of 16 of the CONCACAF Women’s Championships, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Having finished third in Group F with 3 points from one win and two losses, Guyana has been paired up with Haiti for the next round of play, which will take on a straight elimination format.

Haiti finished second in their Group ‘H’, with 5 points from a win and two draws.
Of course, the Guyanese and Haitian teams are no strangers to each other, having opposed each other in this very competition back in 2020. On that occasion, Guyana worked hard to make it to the quarterfinal round for the first time in the country’s football history.
However, Haiti rained on their parade with a 3-0 victory.
While the Guyanese are likely to be wary of this team, Haiti have not appeared as dominant as they were in the last Championships, where they topped their Group with 3 wins.
During a post-match interview after Guyana’s loss to Panama on Wednesday night, Captain Samantha Banfield readily admitted that Guyana had made mistakes, but professed her belief in the team’s ability to rebound.
“It was definitely a tough loss. We got beat in the box with crosses in the air off corners. So, we need to work on that moving forward, and we just need to regroup as a team, learn from this, and grow,” Banfield shared.
Switching her attention to the upcoming knockout Round of 16 action, Banfield said, “The Round of 16 is going to be tough. We have to come with our ‘A’ game, but I believe in this group and I think that we can come together for the Round of 16 for sure.”
Guyana is set to take on Haiti on Saturday, March 5, from 7pm local time. The Round of 16 action will commence today, however, with the USA taking on Suriname and Puerto Rico battling St. Kitts and Nevis, both at 4pm.
At 7pm, Canada and Cayman Islands will do battle while El Salvador and the Dominican Republic hash it out.
On Saturday, Mexico will lock horns with Curacao while Panama and Jamaica go-toe-to toe, both at 4pm. Aside from Guyana and Haiti, the next 7 o clock game on Saturday will be Guatemala vs Bermuda.
The CONCACAF Women’s Championships are the gateway to FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica in August of this year. the top three finishers in the Championships would each book a spot in the FIFA event, scheduled for August 10-28, 2022. (Jemima Holmes)