Hoping for more warm-up games
With most of the major CONCACAF teams already deep in preparation, Trinidad and Tobago’s senior national women’s team this week began full preparation for the upcoming World Cup qualifying. CONCACAF qualifying for the World Cup is due to begin in 2014, although no date has yet been set.
The 2015 Women’s World Cup will be held in Canada, and local experts believe that Trinidad and Tobago have their best chance of qualifying for their first World Cup this time around. Expansion of the Women’s World Cup from 16 to 24 teams, has seen CONCACAF being given an additional automatic qualifying spot.
CONCACAF is guaranteed to have at least four representatives for the World Cup, hosts Canada and three automatic qualifiers. A fifth CONCACAF team will also qualify for a playoff against the third-placed team in the South America region.
World champions USA and top-10 ranked Canada traditionally dominate CONCACAF women’s football, which is regarded as being of a higher standard than South America (CONMEBOL), where Brazil dominate.
South America has been given just two automatic qualifying spots, and a playoff spot against the fourth-placed CONCACAF qualifiers. With Canada qualifying as host, and the USA almost guaranteed another spot, it leaves two automatic qualifying spots and a playoff berth up for grabs among the other CONCACAF contenders, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and possibly Haiti.
Under coaches Marlon Charles and Anton Corneal, the locally-based contingent of the national team has been keeping fit. However, the training schedule has been increased to four times a week.
“We have been training all along and just keeping fit,” Charles said, “But, we have only really began the programme for the 2015 World Cup (qualification) this week.”
Charles expects to have a full complement of players by mid-December, when several players, who are based in the United States at college, will return home for the vacation break.
“We will be able to train as a group them and really get to do what we wanted as a team,” he said.
T&T have not had any international matches since August, when they played unbeaten against club teams on a tour of England. That trip was sponsored by the Ministry of Sport. On the other hand, the USA have played unbeaten in 16 matches this season, winning 13 and drawing three. Also busy have been Canada, Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
“They say that next year things will be better in terms of matches,” Charles said. “But, we’ll wait and see.”