The Fifa delegation, consisting of Oliver Vogt (Competitions) and Sonia Denoncourt (senior manager refereeing) has given this country a nod of approval after their three day inspection of 14 training facilities that may be used by teams during the 2010 Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup here.
Speaking at a brief press conference held at the Concacaf office, Edward Street, Port-of, Spain, Vogt explained that T&T was well on track with its preparations and apart from a few minor details he had no doubt that everything would be completed on time.
“The past three days have been very fruitful, we inspected 14 training sites and out of these we will chose 12.”
Four sites were already chosen in Tobago in February. “Of the 14, we still need some things done such as the upgrade of the pitch to Fifa requirements, but we are very confident that we will have excellent facilities when we return for the World Cup,” Vogt said.
It is also his hope that most of the preparations are close to be completed by the end of April 2010, to facilitate the World Cup draw which takes place on May 8 in which representatives from all 16 qualifying teams will also be in T&T to also conduct their own inspections of the facilities.
Denoncourt, who’s duty concerns the referees, complemented the LOC for it’s organisation where the inspection was concerned and shared that she has chosen the Hyatt as the referees headquarters and will recommend the Hasley Crawford Stadium as the training pitch for the referees.
“We are obviously very satisfied with the stadium, it is one of the best I have seen in the area,” she said. She said the referee delegation will consist of 60 people, including 42 referees and assistant referees.
“There will be 60 people, 42 of whom will be women referees and assistant referees in total from all over the world and hopefully a couple for Trinidad.” T&T boasts two Fifa certified referees in Shane De Silva and Cindy Mohammed who worked in the 2008 Women’s World Cup in Chile.