Players from the Canadian women’s U-17 national soccer team, including North Vancouver’s Caitlin Shaw, are safe and on their way home after violence in Nicaragua caused the cancellation of the CONCACAF championships.
The Canadians played one game in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Friday, a 3-0 win over Bermuda, but on Sunday the tournament was shut down following widespread protests that left more than two dozen people dead.
Caitlin’s father Wayne Shaw was with the team and he told the North Shore News that both the Canadian and U.S. teams were escorted to the airport by security personnel Monday morning. On Monday evening Canada Soccer released a statement indicating that all Canadian team personnel and referees departed Nicaragua safely and were on their way back to Canada.
The tournament was meant to determine the region’s qualifiers for the Under-17 World Cup scheduled for November in Uruguay.
