– preparations begin for CFU and CONCACAF Youth Tournaments
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has made the first step towards participating in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Boys U-14 Challenge Trophy and the CONCACAF Girls U-15 Championship respectively, with the encampment of the two squads.
The encamped female team
The CFU Boys U-14 Challenge Trophy is scheduled for August 2-12 in Curaçao while the CONCACAF Girls U-15 Championship is slated to kick off at the IMG Academy, Florida, USA from August 6-13. As such, the national camps are being conducted from July 8 to 16 at the Guyana Fire Service Training Facility, Leonora, featuring a provisional squad of 35 boys and 35 girls, with Bryan Joseph and Akilah Castello being the assigned Head Coaches of the respective squads.
Among the 34-member female squad that has been named, there are 10 internationally-based players from Canada and the USA selected by GFF International Women’s Coordinator Paul Beresford. The remaining players are locally based, with 23 from the GFF Academy Training Centres (ATCs) and one player from Region One.
On the other hand, the entire Boys’ squad comprises locally-based players who have benefited from the ATCs.
The encamped male team
Guyana are one of five countries placed in Group C of the CFU Boys U-14 Challenge Trophy along with Curaçao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago and Aruba. Meanwhile, the U-15 Girls have been placed in Group E with The Bahamas, Cayman Islands and St Lucia.
Guyana are scheduled to play their first match in the U-15 Championship against St Lucia on August 6 at 11:00h, followed by Cayman Islands on August 7 at 09:00h and The Bahamas on August 9 at 11:00h. The play-offs will begin on August 10, following the group qualifiers, with the finals set for August 13 at 11:00h.
At the conclusion of the camp, a shortlist of the squad will be done, after which there will be two additional encampment periods, from July 22-26 and from July 29-August 1 respectively.
