Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Women have been bolstered by the addition of overseas-based trio Kennya Cordner, Lauryn Hutchinson and Naomie Guerra going into their second match in the CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s World Cup qualifier against Antigua/Barbuda on Wednesday from 5pm TT Time.
Cordner, who is based in Norway, joined the T&T camp at Knutsford Hotel in Kingston on Tuesday morning and did some light work during the team’s training session at the National Stadium training pitch later in the day.
T&T are third on the table with three points, behind leaders Jamaica who trounced Antigua/Barbuda 9-0 on Saturday and followed up with a 4-0 win over Bermuda on Monday. Cuba defeated Antigua 7-0 on Monday. T&T have of course played just one game so far. A hattrick from Kayla Taylor gave the 2014 Caribbean champions a 3-2 win over Cuba on Saturday.
“We’re looking to take charge of the game and secure our second win of the competition,” Corneal told TTFA Media. “The last couple days have been useful in that we were able to get in a couple sessions which we didn’t have prior to the first game after our arrival here.
“Having Kennya in the team now is a positive development as well as the arrival of Lauryn and Naomie to give us a full squad is important. We’ve seen the other teams in action so far and the main thing for us now is to collect as many points that we can in our early matches and take care of qualification for the next round in the United States,” Corneal added.
Cuba faces Bermuda in the second match from 8pm. Local fans can follow the action live on Flow Sports 1.
The Central American Zone of Concacaf Women’s Championship Qualifying meantime, kicked with Panama and Costa Rica emerging as big winners on Monday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Led by Karla Paola Riley’s brace, Panama topped Nicaragua 4-0 in the opening match.
Riley earned the Canaleras a good start with a fine right-footed strike in the 9’. Yomira Pinzon doubled the score in the 49’ with an excellent trap of the ball with her chest and then swinging a shot into net.
Riley struck for her second in the 68’ with a thumping header to extend the lead to 3-0, before Lineth Cedeno capped things off in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time with a strong finish.
Costa Rica also enjoyed a strong performance in its opening match, with an 11-0 victory against El Salvador.
All four teams return to action on Wednesday, with Costa Rica squaring off against Nicaragua and Panama taking on El Salvador.
After round-robin play, the top two finishers will qualify to the Concacaf Women’s Championship. The top three teams from the CONCACAF Caribbean Final round will advance to the CONCACAF
Championship Final phase in the United States in October.
Number of teams to qualify for the World Cup: 3 (Champion, runner-up and third place). The fourth place finished will dispute a home-and-away intercontinental playoff, with Argentina, the third-place finisher of CONMEBOL’s 2018 Women’s Copa America. The winner of the playoff will qualify to the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
SOURCE: ttfootball.org