BATON ROUGE — Sophomore midfielder Caroline Vanderpool will travel with the U-20 Canadian National Team on Saturday to compete in the 2006 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Final Round Qualification Tournament in 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. 16-Sept. 2.
“I’m really excited to be a part of this team,” Vanderpool said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge we have in front of us and the experience I will gain from it. We have a great chance to make it to the World Championships because we have great talent, organization and team chemistry.”
Canada is the defending CONCACAF champion and will compete in Group A along with Mexico, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago. It opens the competition against Trinidad & Tobago on Jan. 18 followed by matches against Panama on Jan. 20 and Mexico on Jan. 22.
Group B is comprised of the United States, Jamaica, Surinam and El Salvador.
The winners and runners-up of each group will earn a place in the event’s semifinal round with the winners of the two semifinal matches 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.