NEW YORK - The women's soccer tournament at the Central American and Caribbean Games has been resurrected and will begin Saturday in Venezuela with six teams .

CONCACAF initially withdrew its support of all soccer, men's and women's, in early July when inspections of the fields in the host country of Puerto Rico were determined not to have met minimum standards. But the Venezuelan Football Federation offered to stage the matches, which will be played at the 42,000-seat Estadio Metropolitano in Merida, Venezuela.

Although 10 teams originally were scheduled to play, entrants from Costa Rica, Guyana, El Salvador and Mexico withdrew, leaving Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela to compete for the women's title.

All but three of the original 10 teams in the men's competition: El Salvador, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, also withdrew, leaving officials with an insufficient number of sides to conduct a tournament.

The women's tournament will be run by a coalition of officials from the Venezuela federation, the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization (ODECABE) (Organizacion Deportiva Centroamericana y del Caribe) and CONCACAF.

Central American and Caribbean Games
Women's Soccer
At Merida, Venezuela
Saturday, July 24
Haiti vs. Puerto Rico
Trinidad & Tobago vs. Nicaragua
Venezuela vs. Guatemala

Monday, July 26
Nicaragua vs. Haiti
Puerto Rico vs. Guatemala
Venezuela vs. Trinidad & Tobago

Wednesday, July 28
Trinidad & Tobago vs. Puerto Rico
Haiti vs. Guatemala
Venezuela vs. Nicaragua

Friday, July 30
Guatemala vs. Trinidad & Tobago
Nicaragua vs. Puerto Rico
Venezuela vs. Haiti

Sunday, August 1
Guatemala vs. Nicaragua
Haiti vs. Trinidad & Tobago
Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico