SAN CRISTOBAL – Canada thumped El Salvador 9-1 Saturday to comfortably win its qualifying group and book its ticket to the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship.
Canada and El Salvador had both won their three previous games ahead of Saturday’s decider in the CONCACAF U-20 qualifying tournament. But the Canadians, with a goal difference of plus-31 compared to plus-13 for the Central Americans, needed just a draw to win the group and make the full tournament field.
The 32 teams at the qualifying event have been split into six groups for round-robin play. The group winners move on to the CONCACAF U-20 Championship May 24 to June 3 in the Dominican Republic, joining the pre-qualified U.S. and Mexico.
The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Panama and Puerto Rico have already qualified.
The top three teams at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship will represent North and Central America and the Caribbean at next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
Saturday’s game was delayed 2 1/2 hours and moved to Felix Sanchez Stadium due to inclement weather affecting Estadio Panamericano.
Canada outscored its opposition 40-1 in four games. The Canadians opened play with a 15-0 win over Martinique before downing St. Vincent and the Grenadines 12-0 and Cuba 4-0.
Canada has qualified for eight of the 10 previous FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cups, finishing runner-up to the U.S. in 2002 when Canada hosted the event.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2023.
