With the heartbreak of Canada's elimination from U20 World Cup qualifying still fresh in the minds of many fans, it's already time to look ahead to another youth squad's attempt to reach their big show.
The U17 men's national team learned on Tuesday it will compete in a three-team group with Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago at next month's CONCACAF championships. The tournament follows the same format as the just-completed U20 tournament: Finishing first or second in the group earns a berth in the win-and-you're-into-the-World-Cup quarterfinals.
Canada opens up against T&T on April 6, then clashes with Costa Rica on April 10. A win in either game would likely (though not definitely) be enough to see them through to an all-or-nothing showdown with either Panama or Jamaica.
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Canada did qualify for the 2011 U17 World Cup -- their first appearance in the tournament in 16 years -- and managed to pull off a famous 2-2 draw with England. Canada's goal-scorers on that day were Sadi Jalali, currently of FC Edmonton, and Toronto FC goalkeeper Quillan Roberts.
Yes, you read that right...
In a release, Canadian coach Sean Fleming said his team had been drawn into a "tough group" and said, quite rightly, that "(t)he level of competition at all of the CONCACAF Championships has improved tremendously in recent times – and that is a credit to the confederation.
"There are simply no easy games in qualifying for a FIFA World Cup at any level."
We saw that first-hand next month when the Canadian U20s dropped their first match against a surprising Cuban team that then went on to qualifying for the World Cup tournament. As for the U17s, Fleming called Costa Rica a "quality side", while T&T is, in his words "strong and well-organized."
We've seen both disappointment and unexpected magic from our men's youth teams in the past 18 months. So, which one will we see from this year's crop of U17s?
We'll find out in one month's time.
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