National Senior Women’s team head coach Jamaal Shabazz will select a final squad on the weekend to contest the Women’s World Cup final round of qualifiers next month in Cancun, Mexico.
Just back from a two-match warm up tour where the T&T team defeated Guatemala 3-2 and drew the second encounter 2-2, Shabazz says the possibilities are there for a strong T&T showing and a likely passage through to the semi-final round.
“We have the ability to advance to the last four and then from there anything can happen with regards to qualification for the World Cup in Germany next year,” Shabazz told TTFF Media on Thursday.
T&T’s first opponent will be Canada on October 29 and current TTFF director of Women’s football and former Canada coach Even Pellerud will meet with Shabazz on the weekend to discuss the team’s preparations for that encounter.
T&T will also meet Mexico on October 31 and Guyana on November 2. The top two teams will advance to the semi-finals with the finalists qualifying for Germany 2011 next June and the third place winner moving on to a playoff with Europe’s fifth place finisher.
“Pellerud knows Canada’s football and he has seen their team play this year and so we will sit down and hold extensive discussions in relation to that match and other relevant matters,” Shabazz said.
Looking back at the two-match tour, he added that despite the difficult circumstances with as much as eight players being unavailable due to illness, the team demonstrated a strong sense of character.
“I think the pressure that we underwent in Guatemala was a blessing because it turned out to be much tougher than we expected with the eight players having to miss the matches. This forced the players to dig deep and we as coaches had to think outside the box. These are all necessary elements required for us to succeed at the Concacaf qualification level.”
“Now that we are back home, we will focus on fine tuning and hopefully leave in time next week to have a couple sessions with the overseas-based players before the Canada match.
We are focusing on a couple particular areas particularly with regards to killing teams off as we should have in the second game against Guatemala. We were two goals ahead and we sat back and allowed them to come back into the game and we almost lost the match near the end. We will not have that luxury in Concacaf where we can squander a two-goal lead and still survive or go on to win a match,” Shabazz added.