Golden Jaguars receive ‘favourable draw’ for Nations League

May 18, 2023 Sports

Kaieteur Sports – Guyana’s Golden Jaguars, the senior men’s national football team, have received a favourable draw for the 2023/24 CONCACAF Nations League.

The draw, which took place in Miami, placed the Golden Jaguars in League B alongside Antigua and Barbuda, Puerto Rico, and The Bahamas in Group D.

Having finished as runner-up of League B in back-to-back seasons of the Nations League, Guyana finds themselves in a group that would see them as one of the favourites to finish on top.

The 2023/24 CNL will be played in a three-League format (A, B, and C), with the region’s 41 men’s senior national teams distributed into the Leagues according to the results of the 2022/23 CNL.

FLASHBACK! Trayon Bobb (L) celebrates scoring one of his two goals for Guyana during their 4-2 win over Bermuda in the inaugural CONCACAF National League.

League B features 16 teams divided into four groups of four teams. Each team will play every other team in their group, home and away, for a total of six matches per team (three at home and three away).

Group A features Guadeloupe, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Sint Maarten, Group B will bring together Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Montserrat, and Barbados, while in Group C, French Guiana will face Bermuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Belize.

As previously announced, League A has been expanded to include 16 teams (up from 12) and a new quarterfinal round has been created to include more direct elimination matches that will qualify teams for continental summer competitions.

The 2023/24 CNL Group Stage will be played during the official FIFA Match Windows in September, October, and November 2023. For League A, the new Quarterfinals will be played in November 2023.

The 2023/24 CNL Finals, where the third CNL champion will be crowned, will take place at a to-be-announced venue in March 2024.

After Group Stage play, the 12 lowest ranked League A national team were drawn into two groups of six teams each and will play in a “Swiss-style” league system. In total, each team will play four games (two at home and two away).

In the FIFA Match Windows of September and October 2023, each group’s first and second-place finishers will advance to the CNL Quarterfinals, where they will join the four top-ranked League A national teams.

Guyana’s Omari Glasgow tries to maintain possession against Montserrat’s Lucas Kirnon during the inaugural CONCACAF National League.

The Quarterfinal round will be played in a home-and-away format in the FIFA Match Window of November 2023, with the aggregate score winners in each Quarterfinal matchup advancing to the 2024 CNL Finals and qualifying for the 2024 Conmebol Copa America.

The four seeded nations in the Quarterfinals are (in alphabetical order): Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States.

The pairing for the Quarterfinals will be determined based on the Concacaf Rankings of October 2023 (after the FIFA Window) and the 2023/24 CNL Group Stage results.

The remaining two Concacaf nations that will participate in the 2024 Conmebol Copa America will be determined via a single-match direct elimination Play-In between the four League A losing Quarterfinalists. This Play-In will also take place in March 2024.

Promotion and relegation between CNL Leagues will take place at the conclusion of the third edition, where in League A, the fifth and sixth-place finishers will be relegated to League B. League B Group winners will be promoted to League A, and fourth-place finishers will be relegated to League C.

League C Group winners and the best second-place finisher will be promoted to League B.

The 2023/24 CNL promises to be an exciting tournament, with the Golden Jaguars hoping to make their mark in League B.

With the expanded format and new quarterfinal round, there will be more opportunities for teams to qualify for continental summer competitions and showcase their skills on the international stage.

• CONCACAF Nations League, Golden Jaguars, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trayon Bobb