Leilanni Nesbeth will be pulling on a Bermuda jersey for the first time in more than a year when she plays for the Under-20s against Jamaica in a round-of-16 Concacaf Championship match in Dominican Republic.

Nesbeth, who was sidelined in 2018 following a serious knee injury, joined up with the Bermuda team in Miami as they travelled to Dominican Republic ahead of today’s match which starts at 6pm.

Nesbeth, a freshman at Florida State University, suffered the injury in September 2018 when she tore the meniscus cartilage and anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Brighton & Hove Albion in England.

Nesbeth, Junior Female Athlete of the Year last year, will join up with former national youth team-mates, with the Bermuda squad containing several under-17 players like captain Danni Watson, Koa Goodchild, Emily Cabral, Nia Christopher and Trinae Edwards.

“We will actually be the youngest team in this tournament,” Naquita Robinson, the national coach said on Thursday prior to the team’s departure.

“Our opponents, Jamaica, will have a majority of 2000 born players and our team for the most part, are 2003 born players, so there’s a three-year gap.

“However, our girls have experience playing the very best of them.

“Leilanni is our dark horse, she never represented Bermuda at this level so having her is a tremendous asset at this level. “We have strengthened our team and have selected a very good team. This will be a great tournament for us.

“We are in the round of 16 so it’s win or go home. We potentially have just one game.”

Last summer, Bermuda failed to advance in qualifiers in Guyana where they lost their first two matches against the hosts and St Lucia before finishing with a flurry of goals against Surinam and Antigua in 6-1 and 5-1 wins.

They were the highest scorers in the groups while Christopher was the team’s top scorer with five goals.

“It’s great to be reinstated into the tournament because it was disappointing exiting in Guyana when we were clearly the best team there,” Robinson stated.

Bermuda are one of four countries that were reinstated and entered directly into the round of 16, the others being Saint Lucia, Grenada and Barbados, after the competition increased it participation numbers.

At stake is qualification into the Under-20s World Cup, with the two finalists from this tournament advancing to the main tournament which will be co-hosted by Panama and Costa Rica in August.

Jamaica beat Canada 3-1 on Wednesday to advance to the last 16. They topped Group E with Canada finishing second, three points behind.

Instead of playing Bermuda as the group winners, Canada will play Cuba in their knockout match. Cuba finished third in Group C.

Other matches today will see the United States playing St Lucia and the Dominican Republic taking on El Salvador, with the winners of the Dominican Republic match taking on Jamaica or Bermuda in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The semi-finals are set for next Friday and the final on Sunday, March 8.