NOTES: Jamaica’s Roster For CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 2020

In this post:  Jamaica’s roster for the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, with collegiate profile links and player ages, plus some additional facts and details about Jamaica.

Jamaica, who finished third in the last senior CONCACAF women’s tournament, thus earning a spot in their first FIFA Women’s World Cup, are hoping for a better finish this time, in order to earn one of two tickets to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

However, they will be without the coach who guided them into the WWC, Hue Menzies, resigned in December amid a “pay dispute” with the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), as the JFF owes Menzies six months of unpaid  salary and other compensation.  (Jamaica-Star.com) Continue reading “NOTES: Jamaica’s Roster For CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying 2020”

NOTES: And, Introducing… The Saint Kitts and Nevis WNT

Debuting today in their first senior CONCACAF women’s tournament is tiny Saint Kitts & Nevis (SKN), who finished first in their five-team qualifying group, which was hosted by Trinidad & Tobago.

Saint Kitts & Nevis has a population of roughly 55,000 and is the smallest independent country in the Western hemisphere (Wikipedia).

SKN’s WNT is coached by (Deborah) Jené Baclawski (Twitter profile) who is the Technical Director for the South Texas Youth Soccer Association.

The Canadian Press wire service recently published a short article on the team, with quotes from Baclawski:  Underdog St. Kitts prepares to face Canada at Olympic women’s soccer qualifier (via theglobeandmail.com).

Continue reading “NOTES: And, Introducing… The Saint Kitts and Nevis WNT”

2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: Group A Preview

The United States Women’s National Team will, almost certainly, win their group.

What is far from certain is which of the other teams will finish as the runner-up in Group A of this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, thus earning a chance to play for a spot at this year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo via an all-or-nothing semifinal against the top team from Group B.

Continue reading “2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: Group A Preview”

Opponent Watch: Haiti’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020

After a six year absence from senior women’s CONCACAF final tournaments, Haiti is back, better and younger than ever.

Update (31-Jan-2020):  Haiti made late changes to their final roster, just after this article was published (Twitter):

  • Unavailable: Angeline Gustave (right knee), center back Tabita Joseph (right ankle)
  • Replaced by Gaëlle Dumas and Maudeline Moryl (both born in 2003)

The rest of this article has not been updated.

Regarding Haiti’s youth, not only does their team have the youngest average age of any squad at this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, at just 20.38 years-old, they also have the youngest “oldest player”, Johane LaForte, who does not turn 24 until late February.

The most striking age-related factoid is that every player on Haiti’s roster is younger than the youngest player on the United States Women’s National Team’s roster, Andi Sullivan, who is 24.11 year-old. Continue reading “Opponent Watch: Haiti’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020”

CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying: Birth Year Distribution and Comparison Charts

As seen on Twitter, here’s a quick post with charts showing the birth year distribution for each team’s rosters at this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship.

First up is a stacked bar chart showing the overall distribution, with each team represented by a unique color. Teams are roughly in order of oldest to youngest, based on each squad’s average and median age.

Continue reading “CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying: Birth Year Distribution and Comparison Charts”

2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: USA TV Schedule Announced (Finally!)

After extended negotiations between CONCACAF and FOX Sports for a multi-year and multi-event deal (FOXSports.com), on Monday, FOX Sports announced their airing schedule for the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, which starts on Tuesday, January 28th (a/k/a, “the next day”).

Every match of the tournament will be aired live by a FOX Sports network:  FOX Sports 1 (FS1), FOX Sports 2 (FS2), or FOX Soccer Plus.

Continue reading “2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: USA TV Schedule Announced (Finally!)”

Neighbor Watch: Canada’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020

And, the award for the most consistent team roster goes to… Canada.

All twenty players on Canada’s roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship were members of their 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad, including every player who featured on-field for Canada in France.

Canada, who earned Bronze Medals in 2012 and 2016, will be hoping to qualify for its fourth-straight Summer Olympics.  Veteran forward Christine Sinclair is also hoping to make her fourth Olympics, while eyeing the career international goals record that is currently held by USWNT legend Abby Wambach. Continue reading “Neighbor Watch: Canada’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020”

Opponent Watch: Panama’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020 – Where Are The Goal-Scorers?

Panama, who was a penalty shoot-out away from qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, will be without five of their top six five goal-scorers over the past two calendar years for the upcoming CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, where they are grouped with the United States Women’s National Team in Group A.  Panama will also be without the head coach who guided them to the cusp of WWC qualification, Victor Suarez, who was sacked by Panama’s FA after last summer’s Pan-American Games, where Panama only managed to score a single goal in open play.

Continue reading “Opponent Watch: Panama’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020 – Where Are The Goal-Scorers?”

Opponent Watch: Costa Rica’s Roster for 2020 Olympic Qualifying

When the United States Women’s National Team finishes the group stage of this year’s CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament against Costa Rica, they will likely face a line-up quite similar to the one that they faced last November, in the two sides’ most recent match-up.  Of the 20 players on Costa Rica’s published roster for that friendly, head coach Amelia Valverde has retained 17 for the qualifying roster, including all 13 players who featured in that match (U.S. Soccer match report). Continue reading “Opponent Watch: Costa Rica’s Roster for 2020 Olympic Qualifying”

USWNT: Roster For 2020 Olympic Qualifying Announced

For his first official tournament roster, recently installed United States Women’s National Team head coach Vlatko Andonovski elected not to make any significantly surprise selections, choosing only experienced players, including 18 players from last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup squad, for the upcoming CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship.

With no retirements after last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup and all core  WWC players available, except for the pregnant Alex Morgan, Andonovski chose just two players who were not in France last year:  NC Courage forward Lynn Williams and Washington Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan. Continue reading “USWNT: Roster For 2020 Olympic Qualifying Announced”