T&T’s senior Soca Princesses will be aiding the preparation of their U-17 counterparts for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup, in light of Concacaf’s withdrawal from the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC).
Concacaf’s pulled out of the CAC, which begins on July 17, due to a lack of suitable facilities and poor pitches, forcing the T&T senior Soca Princesses, to seek alternative means of preparing for the Gold Cup in October. The Soca Princesses qualified for the competition by topping their group in the Caribbean Football Union Final Round Tournament held in T&T in May.
The withdrawal from the competition has now caused coach, Jamaal Shabazz to take things into his own hands and organize practice matched for his side. “Obviously we were looking forward to the tournament, but we understand and respect that Concacaf knows what is best for football in the region,” said Shabazz.
“Therefore, we have made contact with some of the teams, particularly, Guatemala and Haiti and asked for friendlies at the end of the month. The team has been in training for the event which starts on July 18 and have been using the time they have together as a team to prepare both themselves and the U-17 team which is preparing for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup in September.
The World Cup takes place from September 5 to 25 in T&T. “We have had a few healthy exchanges with the U-17’s as we are now using the time we have all the girls together to help them prepare for the World Cup,” said Shabazz. Shabazz explained that the entire team is in T&T, and will be together for an additional two weeks.
“We have all of our best players here and we are going to make full use of the next two weeks. It is always good o have all of your players together in these times and it’s every coach’s dream.” The two teams will clash today from 10 am at an undecided venue.