Ja U-20 Women prepare for CONCACAF Champs

Jamaica's Under-20 Women's team head coach Lorne Donaldson says that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is working on a camp ahead of the CONCACAF Championship in Trinidad and Tobago next January.

The Jamaican team qualified for the CONCACAF Under-20 Women's championship by topping the final round in the Caribbean phase of qualifying in the Dominican Republic last week.

"We will try to get a camp and also a game or two ahead of the CONCACAF championship. We want to get to Trinidad and Tobago early. The JFF will be working with us to make it possible," Donaldson told The Gleaner yesterday.

Donaldson also disclosed that the coaching staff was looking at adding couple of players that were not part of the group to bolster the squad.

PLAYERS IDENTIFIED

"We are looking at some players to fill the squad. We have already identified two players, and a couple more would be good," the head coach said.

Looking back at the qualifiers, Donaldson said that although Jamaica won all their three games, it was not easy.

"The host and Haiti are good teams. We were not ideally prepared, but playing two practice games before we went to the Dominican Republic was good for the team," he noted.

The Young Reggae Girlz edged the Dominican Republic 1-0 last Wednesday then clipped Haiti, also 1-0, two days later and swamped St Kitts and Nevis 9-0 on Sunday. They topped the final round on nine points ahead of runners-up Haiti.

Jamaica, Haiti, and host Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) will represent the Caribbean at the CONCACAF Championship in T&T from January 18 to 28.

Donaldson's side remains the only Caribbean country to have qualified for all the CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship since its inception in 2002.

They will now face the USA, Mexico, and Nicaragua in the CONCACAF Championship. The other group consists of Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Costa Rica, and Haiti.

Jamaica will play against Mexico on January 19 then tackle the United States of America on January 21, after which they close the group against Nicaragua on January 23.

The top three teams from the CONCACAF championship will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in France.

Jamaica has, by virtue of this performance, also qualified for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean games to be played in Colombia, beginning July 19.