The Guyana Under-15 team has intensified training as the Concacaf U-15 Championships loom. The youngsters had been engaged in training for four weeks, but due to academics, that training had had to be minimised.
As they prepare for the Concacaf Championships, which start on August 6 in Curacao and the Dominican Republic, Head Coach Devon Winter has expressed his high expectations.
“The expectations, of course, have always been high. From experience, I think the boys are very talented, and (we) are just monitoring how we train, and (ensure) we don’t overload the training, so we can peak at the tournament,” he said.
Goalkeepers in practice session
The youth tournaments played in Guyana have helped in selection of the team. The boys are coming with technical ability, and thus the selectors can mainly focus on rejuvenating all the players as one team.
The fourth edition of the Concacaf U15 Championships will take place between August 6-13, 2023, and will include the participation of 42 boys’ U15 teams, 40 from Concacaf, and two guest nations from the Asian Football Confederation.
The competition will continue to be played in a three-League format (A, B, and C), starting with group stage play and followed by a knockout stage.
The 42 participating teams have been distributed into the Leagues based on the Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Ranking as at February 2023, which is as follows (listed in alphabetical order per League):
League A: 16 teams (14 highest ranked and two guest nations): Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.
League B: 16 teams (next highest ranked teams): Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Suriname.
League C: 10 teams (lowest ranked teams): Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, French Guiana, Montserrat, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Turks & Caicos Islands, and US Virgin Islands.
All League A matches will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, while Willemstad, Curaçao, will play host to Leagues B and C.
The last edition of the Concacaf Boys’ U15 Championship took place in 2019 at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The 2021 edition of the competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
