This country’s senior women’s football team will continue its five-day live-in with a practice session at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya from 4 pm this afternoon. The locals went into camp at the Liberty Hotel, Chaguanas on Monday ahead of their departure for the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, next Tuesday. The squad, which comprises seasoned campaigners in Maylee Attin-Johnson, Tiana Bateau, Kennya Cordner, Candace Edwards, Karyn Forbes, Kimika Forbes, Nadia James, Anastasia Prescott, Dernelle Mascall Tasha St Louis and overseas-based duo, Lauryn Hutchinson and Ahkeela Mollon, also trained at the Macoya venue yesterday while they will train at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, from 4 pm today under coach Richard Hood.
Also included in the squad is Soca Princesses Under-17 player Victoria Swift, who joins the team today following last night’s Caribbean Football Union Group B U-17 encounter against St Kitts/Nevis at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva. In Mexico, the senior women will face FIFA World Cup participants Colombia on the opening day, October 11 on the artificial surface at the two-year-old, 50,000 capacity Omnilife Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico, home to top Mexican club, Chivas de Guadalajara. Defending women’s champion Brazil, a World Cup semifinalist, opens against Argentina, while Canada will play Costa Rica and Mexico faces Chile. T&T will also face Mexico and Chile in Group A while Group B consists of Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Costa Rica.
The top two teams in each of the four-team groups will advance to the semifinals, on October 25 with the finals (championship and bronze-medal match) two days later. The local women are coming off a disappointing London Olympics qualifying campaign in which they failed to advance to the Concacaf Final Round qualification series after being upstaged 1–0 by Dominican Republic in July in Santo Domingo.
Team
T&T women’s team: Maylee Attin-Johnson, Tiana Bateau, Danielle Blaire, Kennya Cordner, Candace Edwards, Karyn Forbes, Kimika Forbes, Janine Francois, Nadia James, Anastasia Prescott, Tasha St Louis, Arin King, Victoria Swift,Shalette Alexander, Lauryn Hutchinson, Dernelle Mascall, Ahkeela Mollon, Rhea Belgrave.
Technical staff: Richard Hood (coach), Vernetta Flanders (manager), Chris Bailey (assistant coach), Glennon Foncette (goalkeeper coach), Claire George (equipment manager), Nicole Kistow (physiotherapist).
fixtures
Pan American Games
Group A: Chile, Colombia, Mexico, T&T
Group B: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica
October 18:
Canada vs Costa Rica, 11 am
Colombia vs T&T, 2 pm
Argentina vs Brazil, 5 pm
Mexico vs Chile, 9 pm
October 20:
Canada vs Argentina, 10 am
Chile vs Colombia, 1 pm
Brazil vs Costa Rica, 5 pm
Mexico vs T&T, 8 pm
October 21:
Brazil vs Canada, 8 pm
October 22:
T&T vs Chile, 10 am
Costa Rica vs Argentina, 1 pm
Mexico vs Colombia, 5 pm
October 25: Semifinals
October 27: Finals and third place playoffs
-Nigel Simon
www.guardian.co.tt