Junior Lady Jags needle Haiti to secure berth in U20 Championships
Redemption was written in the stars for Guyana’s national women’s under-20 team the Junior Lady Jags on Tuesday morning, they having edged old foes Haiti to qualify for the CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championships.
After a nil-all score at the half, Myanne Fernandes drove into the 18-yard box in the second segment, and beat the diving Haitian goalkeeper to register the game-winning goal.
That brilliant passage of play has enabled Guyana to complete the Group stage unbeaten, with 7 points from 3 games; while Haiti finished second with 6 points from two wins and a loss.
A look at Guyana’s starting XI against Haiti
The 2025 CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championships are scheduled to be contested in May at a venue to be determined. The format of the Championships would see the eight competing teams being split into two groups of four each. After round-robin play, the group winners and runners-up would advance to the Semifinals and automatically qualify to participate in the 2026 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.
Additionally, the semifinal winners would advance to the Final, where the champion will be crowned.
This will be Guyana’s third outing at the event since debuting at the Qualifiers in 2002. Guyana’s best run at the Championships came in 2020, when they reached the quarterfinal round but were stopped in their tracks by Haiti — Melchie Dumornay having netted a hattrick for the Haitian side to cause them to advance to the semifinal ahead of Guyana in a 3-0 affair.
