Photo: Reggae Girlz captain Shakira Duncan (left) and defender Sherona Forrester
Miami – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), on Friday conducted the draw for the CONCACAF Women’s Championship USA 2014, to be disputed from October 15-26 of this year.
At the Intercontinental Hotel at Doral, CONCACAF Executive Committee Member and Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association President Sonia Bien-Aime opened the proceedings that determined the groupings and match schedule for the tournament.
Friday’s draw sorted the eight qualified countries into two groups of four. Group A is set to contain the host United States, along with Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and Haiti. Group B was drawn with Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, and Martinique – all listed in order of group position.
The CONCACAF Women’s Championship will qualify its top three finishers directly to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, with the fourth-placed team earning the right to face a South American country in a playoff later this year. As host of the Women’s World Cup 2015, Canada has already secured its place in next year’s tournament.
The top two teams from each group after round-robin play at the CONCACAF Women’s Championship advance to the semifinals. However, Martinique — a participating CONCACAF member association not affiliated to FIFA and therefore ineligible to qualify for the FIFA World Cup — will contest only the group stage of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship, and will not be eligible for the final qualifying phase. If Martinique finishes in the top two of Group B, the third place finisher in that group will therefore advance instead to the semifinals.
All eight countries participating in the Championship will play one match in each of three first-round venues. Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, and RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., will each host a pair of doubleheaders on consecutive match days, one doubleheader each for Groups A and B.
The tournament begins at Sporting Park on October 15, with the first two matches of Group A – Guatemala versus Haiti and the United States against Trinidad and Tobago. Group B also kicks off in Kansas City, one day later on October 16, when Jamaica plays Martinique, followed by Costa Rica against Mexico.
All eight teams will then move to Toyota Park, where the Group A doubleheader matches will take place on October 17, and Group B matches on October 18. The teams will finish first round play at RFK Stadium with Group A doubleheader games on October 20, and Group B on October 21.
PPL Park in Philadelphia will host the semifinal matches on October 24, along with the third-place match and final on October 26. The top two finishers in each group will cross-over for the semifinal matches, with the Group A winner playing the Group B runner-up and vice versa, for a spot in the final.
FOX is the official English language broadcaster in the U.S. for the CONCACAF Women’s Championship. All matches will be televised live across FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 or FOX Soccer Plus, and will also be available on multi-platform devises via FOX Sports GO, FOX Soccer 2GO and FOXSportsGO.com.
2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship
Women’s World Cup Qualifying
Kansas City, Kansas; Bridgeview, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; Chester, Pennsylvania
GROUP A
USA
Guatemala
Haiti
Trinidad & Tobago
GROUP B
Costa Rica
Mexico
Jamaica
Martinique
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