Head coach Richard Hood expects to put out probably his strongest team yet in the Tuesday night’s CONCACAF League A match, a qualifier for the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup, and captain Karyn Forbes is appealing for mass Trinidad and Tobago support when facing regional giants Mexico.
T&T host the Mexicans in their final match of the group phase on Tuesday night from 7 p.m. at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. Preceding the feature match will be a CONCACAF League B encounter between St Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados from 4 p.m.
“I am urging you to come out to the Hasely Crawford Stadium on the fifth of December. We will be taking on Mexico in our Gold Cup qualifying game,” captain Karyn Forbes said, “We need your support.”
“I urge you to come out to the game to see us the women national team play against Mexico,” stated Serrant. “Come and have a time and come and show your passion for the sport and for us.”
T&T began the series with a humbling 6-0 defeat at high altitude away to Mexico, but showed improvement over their next two matches, a 2-1 home defeat to Puerto Rico, before holding the Puerto Ricans goalless in Bayamon four days later.
“I’m feeling good about the prospect of playing Mexico again,” stated Hood.
He added: “It’s probably our strongest team that we’ve had throughout the tournament, despite the fact that we are going to be without one or two players,” Hood stated.
With wins over T&T and Puerto Rico, Mexico (six points) lead the series, followed by Puerto Rico (four points) and T&T (one point). With just a single point from three matches, T&T’s chances of qualifying for the Gold Cup are dependent on Mexico defeating Puerto Rico substantially tonight, and losing to T&T on Tuesday.
“Whether we qualify or not right, everything is dependent on what Mexico does against Puerto Rico. - if they beat Puerto Rico by six, seven goals (and) if we manage to defeat Mexico,“ Hood explained. “But if that doesn’t happen, still, we want to finish the tournament positively.”
Hood will be without suspended Club Sando winger Alexcia Ali and England-born right back Christa Waterman due to card issues, while France-based Kedie Johnson is still injured. Still, he has about 12 players coming in from overseas, some like winger Tori Paul, who is rejoining the programme.
“We want to go out and give a good performance and demonstrate the improvement that we have (made) within the programme at the moment. Hopefully that will prepare the rest of the programme going forward.”
“We want to see where we are today, as opposed to where we were when the campaign started. We expect to see a lot of improvements in performances in terms of organisation, ecetera.”
Hood currently has 29 players in a residential camp, but also lamented the earlier absence of some players due to work-related and other personal issues.
“I have to say that I have been a bit frustrated with the preparation so far from the point of view that we have had a number of absentees over the past weeks,” he disclosed. “I have not been able to do the work I would have liked to do,” Hood added.
Finally, the coach felt that it was important to see continued improvement within his team in order for others to be encouraged to join the programme.
“Going forward, hopefully we can continue training, continue building the local group, continue finding new players outside so that we can rebuild the team,” Hood said. “This has been the idea, you know, to get the woman programme back to where it was, and perhaps taking it even further.”
T&T’s provisional squad:
Goalkeepers: Malika Dedier, Simone Eligon, K’lil Keshwar, Akyla Walcott.
Defenders: Jonelle Warrick-Cato, Tamara Johnson, Shauna Lee Govia, Chrissy Mitchell, Crystal Molineaux, Abbigail Moos, Lorall Romain, Victoria Swift, Christa Waterman, Britney Williams.
Midfielders:Arie Bhagan, Sarah De Gannes, Karyn Forbes, Naomie Guerra, Zoe Maxwell, Renee Mike, Chelcy Ralph, Cherina Steele.
Forwards: J’Eleisha Alexander, Asha James, Tsaianne Leander, Orielle Martin, Talia Martin, Tori Paul, Maria-Frances Serrant.
SOURCE: T&T Express