Canada to learn qualifying road for World Cup at Sept. 4 draw

Canada will learn its qualifying road for the 2019 Women’s World Cup at the Sept. 4 draw in Miami for the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

The eight-country regional qualifying soccer tournament, set for Oct. 4-17 in Cary, N.C., and Edinburg and Frisco, Texas, will send three teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean to next year’s Women’s World Cup in France. The fourthplaced team will take part in an intercontinental playoff versus Argentina.

The U.S., as host, and second-ranked Canada will play in separate groups. Mexico has also already qualified.

Two teams will come from the Central American women’s qualifier that starts Aug. 27, with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama taking part.

Three more countries will come from the Caribbean qualifying round, which starts Aug. 25 and features Antigua & Barbuda, Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

The five teams that advance will join Mexico and be placed in three different groups depending on ranking for the draw.

Group B with Canada will play its preliminary-round games Oct. 5, 8 and 11 at H-E-B Park in Edinburg, a 9,700-seat stadium that is home to the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros of the USL.

Group A with the U.S. will play its games Oct. 4, 7 and 10 at the 10,000-seat Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

The top two finishers in each group will then cross over to meet in the Oct. 14 semifinals at Toyota Stadium in Frisco. The third-place match and championship game are slated for Oct. 17 at Toyota Stadium.

The two finalists and thirdplace finisher automatically qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which runs June 7 through July 7.

The U.S. has won seven of the nine CONCACAF championships. Canada won the other two and was runner-up four times.

Host France, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Italy, China, Thailand, Japan, Korea and Australia have already qualified for the 24-team World Cup.

Canada, which hosted the last World Cup, lost in the quarterfinals to England in 2015.

CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO Canada’s Christine Sinclair celebrates after scoring against Germany during the second half of women’s soccer action at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton on June 10. Canada will learn its qualifying road for the 2019 Women’s World Cup at the Sept. 4 draw in Miami for the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.