TRINIDAD AND Tobago women’s football captain Karyn Forbes is looking forward to creating history by playing in Tobago for the first time and guiding the team to a spot in the next round of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification campaign.
T&T will play Guyana in the Concacaf Women’s Championship Qualification tournament at Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, on Tuesday, from 6 pm.
T&T are on top of Group F with nine points after recording wins over Nicaragua (2-1), Dominica (2-0) and Turks and Caicos (13-0).
T&T only need a draw against Guyana to book a spot in the next phase of the 2023 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign – the Concacaf Women’s Championships.
A win for Guyana will see the outfit leapfrog T&T and book a spot in the next round of qualification.
The World Cup will be jointly held in Australia and New Zealand.
Tobagonian Forbes is anticipating the contest against Guyana.
“Absolutely I am delighted (to play in Tobago),” Forbes said, in an interview on the TT Football Association social media channels. “I could say for sure that we are about to create history there being the first time that we play in Tobago and being the first time we advance through to Concacaf (Champs) in Tobago.”
Forbes scored twice against Turks and Caicos, on Saturday, and she expects a huge crowd on Tuesday as tickets are selling quickly.
There are a few Tobagonians in the T&T squad including Forbes’s sister Kimika and Asha James.
Forbes said the team gave coach Kenwyne Jones something to think about as some of the starters against Turks and Caicos did not start in previous matches.
“I think it is awesome (that others performed) because this gave the coach a headache in choosing the starting team for the Guyana game because a lot of players off the bench were hungry.”
Forbes said the regular starters will be under pressure to raise their standard of play.
Forbes, who suffered an ankle injury during the match against Turks and Caicos, is confident she will be fit to play against Guyana.
Liana Hinds, who scored once against Turks and Caicos, felt T&T had a solid game. “I think it was a good game. We played well as a team, we took the opportunity to try some new players on the field and really get a chance to see how we want to play as a team and be able to build on that going forward.”
Hinds was glad to see new faces in the starting XI.
“It was good playing with different players on the field (and) getting comfortable with new players that I am not use to playing with, but I think everyone executed their role very well (on Saturday).”
Speaking more about the match against Turks and Caicos, Hinds said, “I think we were able to see a lot of our strengths that we have and we can figure out ways how to exploit those even more, be able to use those even more going forward.”
Hinds said although Turks and Caicos are the weakest team in the group, T&T spoke about not taking their opponents lightly.
“I think one of the things we emphasised in our pre-game meetings, in our practices leading up to the game, right before we walked out and even at half-time was to not be complacent. Respect Turks and Caicos as a team, but we are looking to be as dominant and as strong as we can at any point in time.”