Young Tridents to play U17 World Cup qualifiers

he Barbados national team will face Mexico, Nicaragua, Belize, and the Commonwealth of Dominica in the Concacaf Under-17 Men’s Qualifiers next year. The official draw was conducted by Concacaf on Friday.

Drawn in Group C, the Young Tridents will play their games in Mexico, traditionally one of the strongest teams in the region at this level. Los Niños Héroes have been U17 World Champions in 2005 and 2011, and made the finals in 2013 and 2019.

Whereas the Mexicans will be rank favourites playing at home, Barbados’ boys will look to build on recent successes at the youth and senior level. The national team won the Caribbean Football Union Under-14 Tier 2 Boys Challenge, and the Tridents men have gone unbeaten in the Concacaf Nations League.

According to the schedule on the Concacaf website, Barbados will play Nicaragua on Friday, February 7 at the Sede de la Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, before meeting Dominica on Tuesday, February 11. On Thursday, February 13, they will face the hosts, before closing their campaign against Belize on February 16.

The latest Concacaf Under-17 men’s rankings have Barbados rated as the 24th best side out of 41 national teams in that age group. Mexico are at the top of the rankings, with Nicaragua 14th. Behind Barbados, Belize are 29th and Dominica 37th.

The region’s FIFA U17 World Cup qualifying competition will take place from February 7-16, 2025, across six venues and include the participation of 35 Concacaf Member Associations.

The new Concacaf U17 Men’s Qualifiers consist of a single round, in which the participating Member Associations are split into eight groups. After round-robin play, where each team will play against each team in its group once, the eight group winners qualify for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup, which will be played in Qatar

The eight groups are as follows:

Group A: Canada, Bermuda, Curacao, Anguilla, and Turks and Caicos Islands

Group B: Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, British Virgin Islands, and Sint Maarten

Group C: Mexico, Nicaragua, Barbados, Belize, and Dominica

Group D: Honduras, Puerto Rico, Bonaire and Saint Martin

Group E: Haiti, Guatemala, Antigua & Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Group F: United States, Cuba, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and US Virgin Islands

Group G: Panama, Dominican Republic, Aruba, and Grenada

Group H: Jamaica, El Salvador, Cayman Islands, and Saint Lucia

(TF)