There is a place for Ahkeela Mollon on the Trinidad and Tobago senior women’s national football team, once she fully buys into the belief that Trinidad and Tobago can qualify for the 2015 FIFA World Cup carded for Canada.
The former Sweden-based professional has been conspicuous by her absence from the national team for the last two or so years—a possible fallout from the 2011 Pan Am Games, when team officials reported her as being disruptive and benched her for a qualifier against Mexico.
Considered one of the most talented women’s players in T&T, Mollon, 28, was the first T&T woman to earn a professional contract in Europe when she was signed by Kvarnsvedens IK in 2003. There she scored 17 goals in a season and got her team promoted to Division One.
Mollon was not in the T&T senior women’s team which returned three days ago from a successful tour of England. There, the Soca Princesses played unbeaten, winning 7-1 over Queen’s Park Rangers, 3-1 over Reading and 3-0 over Tottenham Hotspur. Mollon was also not included when T&T toured Costa Rica in late 2012. Both tours were build-ups to CONCACAF World Cup qualifying in early 2014.
In England, the T&T women were under the charge of Anton Corneal, T&T technical director of football. An experienced coach who qualified the 2007 T&T men’s under-17 for the FIFA World Cup, and also a former T&T senior men’s national coach, Corneal took charge in the absence of women coach Marlon Charles, who stayed behind to prepare the national Under-17 women team for this month’s Caribbean qualifying competition. Corneal felt that the current national women team was improving and had a good chance of World Cup qualification, if given proper preparation.
Asked specifically about Mollon’s status, Corneal said: “She chose not to be part of it at the beginning, and was not training with the team. But she did contact me before we went to England and indicated a desire to be part of it.”
Corneal added: “We can certainly use her talent. But I am not going to let anyone deter us from reaching the World Cup,” said Corneal. “Our main focus is on qualifying for the World Cup. This bunch of girls is focussed. They are committed and we are surely putting a programme together towards World Cup qualification.”
National coach Charles is also excited about the possibility of T&T qualifying for Canada 2015.
“We will be doing our best to try and take this opportunity to qualify for the World Cup...and this is a real opportunity,” Charles stated. “Canada (host country) is already in. The USA will get another spot, and then the rest fight for two and a half spots.”
In England, the Soca Princesses surprised some and also made many friends Corneal said.
“I thought the girls did very well in England. The Tottenham game was very competitive and both teams played for pride. They were not surprised that we could compete, but how well we played,” Corneal said. “ The tour was also an eye opener because it exposed our girls to how foreign clubs operate and the facilities at which they play...something which we don’t have here.”
With CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers due to begin in early 2014, Corneal said the tour of England will be used to assess exactly where T&T are at this stage of preparations. He said that getting matches against top women’s teams is difficult, but they will do the next best thing.
“Our next trip will probably be going to the United States to play some top Universities,” Corneal said. “The problem that we have in Trinidad and Tobago is that the girls don’t play football for a very long time. We don’t have a league that goes for six to eight months. We have to thank the Ministry (Sport) for being able to go to England, and we also will have to devise some formula that will give the girls some matches before the qualifiers begin.”