Not so easy road for Soca Warriors towards Brazil 2014

This was determined at the Draw for the Preliminary Stages which was held in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

T&T, ranked 88th on the FIFA World Rankings were not among the top six seeded CONCACAF teams which included Mexico, United States, Costa Rica, Honduras,

Cuba and Jamaica. As such, T&T will have to contest the second round (from September 2 to November 15,2011)  which will be played on a home and away basis with the highest placed team on points advancing to the semi-final round (Round 3) which takes place from June 8 to October 16,2012

Round 3 is where the race becomes tougher for the “Soca Warriors” as they have been grouped with giants  Mexico and Costa Rica and the winner of Group A which includes El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Suriname and Cayman Islands.

The top two teams from the four semi-final groups will advance to the final round from which the top three qualifies for the Brazil 2014. The four place team will enter in to the intercontinental playoff with Oceania.

Stoke City striker Kenwyne Jones on hearing the news of T&T’s draw, remained optimistic, saying having contest  Round 2 could actually work in the team’s favour.

“Well a draw is a draw. We now know what is ahead of us in order to advance in the qualification for Brazil,” Jones told TTFF Media.

“No game is an easy one in international football today. Hopefully we can get a good start and build our momentum in the second round for the semi-final stages.

By then the team would have been playing together for a few matches well and we will be in tune for the semi-final which obviously is going to be a lot tougher with Mexico and Costa Rica in our group. Our aim obviously is to move to the Final round and then force our way through to the World Cup. It’s not impossible,” Jones added.

T&T were scheduled to depart for Port-Au-Prince on August 7 for a friendly international three days later but that trip is now off due to a lack of funding.

But TTFF President Oliver Camps, while admitting that funding is currently a challenge for the Federation, is assuring that the necessary steps will be taken to ensure the team can give its best shot at qualifying for Brazil 2014.

“Firstly I must say the second round looks good for us and it will give our coach Mr Pfister a good opportunity to see his team develop a chemistry in those early matches. But the third round is where the intensity of the competition really increases and it’s going to be a difficult journey for us but certainly one which we can overcome with the right planning, preparation and execution. Of course the final round is another hurdle which I remain optimistic that we can demonstrate our capabilities fully to be among the qualifiers for the World Cup,” Camps said.

“It is rather unfortunate that we have had to cancel our trip to Haiti. The Ministry of Sport is unable to assist and currently the Federation is unable to meet those costs to take our best team to Haiti for the match. We remain hopeful that the Ministry can assist but this remains another one of our hurdles. But I want to ensure the followers of our National Team that the Federation will do what it can to ensure that we find the funding. One of our next steps will be the implementation of a proper marketing strategy to have corporate bodies on board to assist us in our quest to qualify for the next World Cup finals and to assist in our overall development program,” Camps added.
Pfister will give his reactions to the draw on his return to Trinidad next week.

The actual match fixtures will be announced in due course.

Second Round

Group A — El Salvador, Suriname, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic
Group B — Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda
Group C — Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua, Bahamas
Group D — Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia
Group E — Grenada, Guatemala, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize
Group F — Haiti, Antigua, Curacao, U.S. Virgin Islands

Third Round

Group A — United States, Jamaica, Group E second-round winner, Group F second-round winner
Group B — Mexico, Costa Rica, Group A second-round winner, Group B second-round winner
Group C — Honduras, Cuba, Group C second-round winner, Group D second-round winner

Fourth Round (hexagonal)
The top two teams in each group will form the fourth-round group, as known as the hexagonal, which will play 10 games in 2013.
2011
The second round of CONCACAF qualifying matches will be played on the following dates:
* Sept 2-6 — two games
* Oct. 7-11 — two games
* Nov. 11-15 — two games
2012
The third round of CONCACAF games will be played on:
* June 1-7 — two games
* June 8-12 — two games
* Sept. 7-11 — two games
* Oct. 12-16 — two games

2013
The final round of CONCACAF qualifying will be held on:
* March 22-26 — two games
* June 7-11 — – two games
* June 14-18 — two games
* Sept. 6-10 — two games
* Oct. 11-15 — two games

FIFA has set aside two dates between Nov. 15-19, 2013 for the fourth-place CONCACAF side to play a runner-up from Oceania in an aggregate goals, home-and-away series to determine a spot in the World Cup.

Tough road for ‘Soca Warriors’
as FIFA sets Brazil 2014 draw
By: Nigel Simon (Guardian).

T&T Soca Warriors and its German-born coach Otto Pfister face a tough journey as it seeks to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals in Friday.

This was determined at the draw for the preliminary stages of the tournament at a gala ceremony held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday.

T&T will compete in the Second Round Group B with Caribbean Football Union minnows, Bermuda, Barbados and Guyana starting in September with the winner of the group advancing to the Concacaf semifinal stage in a group comprising recent Gold Cup winners’ Mexico, Costa Rica and the winner of another Second Round series, Group A which includes El Salvador, Suriname, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic.

T&T is currently  ranked 88th on the FIFA World Rankings and was not among the top six seeded Concacaf teams which included Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Honduras, Cuba and Jamaica. As such, T&T will contest the second round (from September 2 to November 15,2011)  with the group winners advancing to the semi-final round (Round 3) which takes place from June 8 to October 16, 2012.

The top two teams from the four semi-final groups will advance to the final round from which the top three qualifies for the Brazil 2014 while the fourth place team will enter in to the inter-continental playoff with Oceania.

Stoke City striker Kenwyne Jones on hearing the news of T&T’s draw, remained optimistic, saying having to play in Round Two could actually work in the team’s favour. “Well a draw is a draw. We now know what is ahead of us in order to advance in the qualification for Brazil,” Jones said.

“No game is an easy one in international football today. Hopefully we can get a good start and build our momentum in the second round for the semi-final stages. By then the team would have been playing together for a few matches well and we will be in tune for the semi-final which obviously is going to be a lot tougher with Mexico and Costa Rica in our group.

Our aim goal obviously is to move to the Final round and then force our way through to the World Cup. It’s not impossible,” Jones added. T&T, which has not played an international match since the start of 2011 was scheduled to meet Haiti in Port-au-Prince on August 10 but that match has been cancelled due to a lack of funding according to T&T Football Federation Technical Adviser, Keith Look Loy. 

However, T&TFF president, Oliver Camps, while admitting that funding is currently a challenge for the federation, is assuring that the necessary steps will be taken to ensure the team can give its best shot at qualifying for Brazil 2014.

“Firstly I must say the Second Round looks good for us and it will give our coach a good opportunity to see his team develop a chemistry in those early matches. But the Third Round is where the intensity of the competition really increases and it’s going to be a difficult journey for us but certainly one which we can overcome with the right planning, preparation and execution.

Of course the final round is another hurdle which I remain optimistic that we can demonstrate our capabilities fully to be among the qualifiers for the World Cup,” Camps said. “It is rather unfortunate that we have had to cancel our trip to Haiti. The Ministry of Sport is unable to assist and currently the federation is unable to meet those costs to take our best team to Haiti for the match.

We remain hopeful that the Ministry can assist but this remains another one of our hurdles. But I want to ensure the followers of our national team that the federation will do what it can to ensure that we find the funding.

One of our next steps will be the implementation of a proper marketing strategy to have corporate bodies on board to assist us in our quest to qualify for the next World Cup finals and to assist in our overall development program,” Camps added. The actual match fixtures for the qualification will be announced in due course.

NIGHT OF THE CHAMPION RESULTS

Second Round

Group A: El Salvador, Suriname, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic
Group B: T&T, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda
Group C: Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua, Bahamas
Group D: Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia
Group E: Grenada, Guatemala, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize
Group F: Haiti, Antigua, Curacao, U.S. Virgin Islands

Third Round

Group A: USA, Jamaica, Group E second-round winner, Group F second-round winner
Group B: Mexico, Costa Rica, Group A second-round winner, Group B second-round winner
Group C: Honduras, Cuba, Group C second-round winner, Group D second-round winner

Fourth Round (hexagonal)

The top two teams in each group will form the fourth-round group, as known as the hexagonal, which will play 10 games in 2013.

2011
The Second Round of Concacaf qualifying matches will be played on the following dates:
* Sept 2-6—two games
* Oct. 7-11—two games
* Nov. 11-15—two games

2012
The third round of Concacaf games will be played on:
* June 1-7—two games
* June 8-12—two games
* Sept. 7-11—two games
* Oct. 12-16—two games

2013
The final round of Concacaf qualifying will be held on:
* March 22-26—two games
* June 7-11—two games
* June 14-18 _two games
* Sept. 6-10—two games
* Oct. 11-15_two games

FIFA has set aside two dates between November 15-19, 2013 for the fourth-place Concacaf side to play a runner-up from Oceania in an aggregate goals, home-and-away series to determine a spot in the World Cup.