Briar Woods’s Lina Granados selected to Colombian U-20 national team

Briar Woods’s Lina Granados selected to Colombian U 20 national team Image Lina Granados playing for the Region 1 team in the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program Girls Thanksgiving Interregional in Boca Raton, Fla., in late November 2011. (Courtesy of Francisco Granados)Lina Granados, a Briar Woods senior forward who has been in Colombia since early December training for a spot on the country’s under-20 women’s national team, was selected to the squad on Monday.

Granados, 17, who was born in Colombia but grew up in the United States and is a dual citizen, will travel with the team to Brazil to compete in the South American U-20 Women’s Championship, a World Cup qualifier. Their opening match will be against Argentina on Saturday.

“I feel happy,” said Granados in a Twitter message. “All the hard work feels like it paid off. I am proud to (be) playing with the other girls chosen and being able to represent this country.”

Granados, a Vanderbilt recruit and second-team All-Met last spring, narrowly missed the final cut the first time she tried out for the U-20 national team two years ago. This time, she was one of 20 players chosen for the team after weeks of training and tryouts in Bogota.

Briar Woods’s Lina Granados selected to Colombian U-20 national team