CONCACAF Under-17 draw set for Jamaica

NEW YORK

Teams qualified for the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship will learn their first-round opponents on December 15 when the draw ceremony in Montego Bay will divide the 12 sides into four, three-team groups.

Hosts Jamaica will be placed with Canada, Costa Rica and the United States in one pot, while the four remaining Central American teams: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, will be grouped in a second pot.

Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, which have clinched berths, will be joined in a last pot by two other Caribbean sides which will be determined at this week's final qualifying group in the Dominican Republic.

Four teams to advance

One team from each pot will be drawn into one of the four first-round groups in a ceremony at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa to be conducted by CONCACAF Deputy General Secretary Ted Howard and the confederation's director of marketing and television, Manolo Zubiria.

The February 14-27 event will be divided between the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, a 25,000-capacity venue used for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and the 7,000-seat Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay.

Four teams from the CONCACAF finals will advance along with hosts Mexico to next year's Under-17 World Cup from June 18-July 10.