COUVA, Trinidad & Tobago -- Savannah DeMelo feels tight group-stage matches have put the United States in good position to defeat Haiti in the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship (CU20W) semifinals on Friday to qualify for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
Those Group B encounters - wins v Nicaragua (2-0), Jamaica (2-1) and Mexico (2-1) -- allowed the team to hone its competitive edge.
"It gives us a sense of urgency to not let up in the moments," the midfielder told CONCACAF.com. "If we don't take care of our games, teams will come back in and hurt us in the end."
Although the six goals generated were the least by any American side in nine CU20W participations (12 in 2010 was the previous low), DeMelo believes her team will benefit from being tested earlier in the competition.
"It's good to get some good games in because if you are winning every game 7-0 you're not really being tested," commented the captain, who was part of the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 title-winning squad. "But having these games 2-0, 2-1, 2-1, it just really makes you want to work hard and not think everything is going to be easy.
"We know that coming into CONCACAF that every team has something special. Every team works its butt off and give it all in the 90 minutes. We were going to have to match that effort."
If the U.S. wins, it will qualify for a ninth consecutive U-20 Women's World Cup. It can secure a fifth successive CONCACAF U-20 crown by triumphing in Sunday's final.
"We don't want to look too far ahead," finished DeMelo. "Our main goal is to qualify and we can only qualify if we take care of Haiti. Then we can worry about winning another title."
