This country’s National Senior Women’s Team will depart for Houston on Sunday for a live-in training camp ahead of its CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying opening match against Guatemala on February 11th at the BBVA Compass Stadium.
TTFA President David John-Williams relayed on Wednesday that the team would not be traveling to Costa Rica for two international warm up games which had been previously announced, due to financial constraints and visa matters. Members of the team only received their US visas on Tuesday. Originally the two games against Costa Rica were carded for January 25th and 27th.
“Contrary to what has been reported in the media there are several factors that contributed to the team not going to Costa Rica, one being we applied for visas and we only got back the passports yesterday and that is fact. So there is no way we could have gone to Costa Rica and that is coupled with the funding that was available to travel to Costa Rica and Houston,” John- Williams told TTFA Media.
“I was a bit disappointed that what has been reported in the media was reported from a player. I take great offense to that and it is something we need to address.
“The girls will leave on Sunday for ten-day camp in Houston and we are trying to arrange a game with Mexico and two club teams. I don’t see the preparations as being affected, We will go to the Olympic qualifies in good spirits and we hope that the girls will do well,” The TTFA President added.
John-Williams also commented on the T&T Futsal Team’s progress to the CONCACAF playoff in May following its 5-4 victory over Guadeloupe last night in Cuba which saw the team finish third in the Caribbean Football Union championship.
“I am happy that we can a least go in to the playoff. It will be a little more expensive for us but at the end of the day we have to hope that the game grows from it,” he said, adding that he didn’t think the team received the best preparation due to the change in administration and the Christmas vacation period leading up to the tournament.
“We were in a transitional period but I think now things are beginning to smoothen out. Now the Futsal team has qualified for the playoff and the Women’s team is off to Houston so those are two things out the way. After that we just have to focus on the World Cup Qualifiers for the Men’s team and a couple youth tournaments that are coming up.
“It’s going to be a huge year but now the administration has settled down. There has been a transitional period and I think things are going to smoothen out. We all know the difficult with funding. We have approached corporate Trinidad and Tobago and hopefully we can get positive results from that and the Association can get back on its feet,” John-Williams concluded.
T&T Women’s Team will face Guatemala on February 11th, Canada on February 14th and Guyana on February 16th. The top two teams in the group will advance to the semi finals with the two finalists moving onto the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Video - TTFA President Gives an Update on Senior Women's Team