PUERTO VALLARTA RESTAURANTS & DINING GUIDE

NEW YORK – The CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship will be played June 17-21 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, rescheduled after initial plans for the tournament were postponed due to swine flu concerns.

The United States will open the tournament on Wednesday, June 17 against the Bahamas in Group B at Unidad Deportivo Agustín Flores with host Mexico facing Canada in Group A in the second game of a doubleheader.
Costa Rica in Group B and El Salvador in Group A will begin play the following day, with round-robin play concluding on Friday before the semifinals and finals on Saturday and Sunday.

The tournament originally was to be played April 29-May 3 in Puerto Vallarta, but an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico in late April resulted in government officials closing schools nationwide for a week. CONCACAF responded in kind, cancelling the semifinals and finals of the Under-17 Championship in Tijuana and postponing the second of the Champions League final in Cancun and the Beach Soccer Championship in Puerto Vallarta.

Two teams will qualify for the Beach Soccer World Cup to be played in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates November 16-22.

The Bahamas will be making its debut in the CONCACAF championship while Canada is returning after a two-year absence.