Bermuda will begin their campaign in the final round of the 2026 Women’s Under-17 World Cup qualifiers against the might of the United States in Costa Rica today.

The Lady Gombey Warriors will be hoping to start the tournament on a positive note at the Costa Rican Football Federation headquarters in San Rafael, Alajuela but are facing a daunting task against the region’s top team, who competed at last year’s Under- 17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.

Gary Adams’ team arrived in Costa Rica a week prior to the start of the tournament to afford the players more time to bond as a unit and also acclimatise to the sweltering conditions they will have to contend with on the pitch.

Adams has been forced to make changes to his squad from the one that secured the island’s spot in Costa Rica after finishing runners-up on goal difference during the first round of qualifiers as some players are unavailable because of school commitments.

Among the surviving members from that squad are midfielder Evans Welch and prolific forward Milan Gibbons-Thomas, who both played integral roles in helping Bermuda advance as one of the best group runners-up during the initial phase of qualifying after performing superbly on home turf at Flora Duffy Stadium.

They inflicted heavy defeats on Suriname and Bonaire before drawing 2-2 with group winners Panama to finish second behind the latter on goal difference in the tournament held from January 24 to February 2.

It is the second straight year that Bermuda has reached the final round of qualifying as one of the best group runners-up under coach Adams.

Bermuda are competing in group B, which also consists of Haiti and Puerto Rico, ranked sixth and seventh respectively.

Adams’ team will face Puerto Rico on Thursday before closing out their campaign against Haiti on Sunday.

The winners of the three groups and the best runner-up in Costa Rica will earn the right to represent Concacaf at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Morocco later this year.