BATON ROUGE — The Canadian Soccer Association has invited sophomore midfielder Caroline Vanderpool to participate in a two-week training camp for the Under-20 Canadian National Team in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., beginning Dec. 27.
Team officials will use this camp to select its final squad to represent Canada in the 2006 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Final Round Qualification tournament to be held in Cordoba and Veracruz, Mexico, Jan. 18-27.
This eight-team tournament will qualify three CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) nations to the 2006 FIFA U-20 World Championship in Russia from Aug. 17-Sept. 3.
Canada is the defending CONCACAF champion and will compete in Group A along with Mexico, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago. Group B is currently comprised of the United States, Jamaica and Surinam, while a fourth nation has yet to be determined.
The winners and runners-up of each group will earn a place in the event’s semifinal round with the winners earning a place in the U-20 World Championship. The third CONCACAF representative will be determined by a third-place playoff game between the two losing semifinalists.
Vanderpool competed in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament last year as a member of the U-19 Canadian National Team. This marks the first year that CONCACAF has staged a qualifying event for the U-20 division.