Trinidad and Tobago's under-17 women's footballers will get their chance to showcase their skill over the next few days, as the T&T Football Association will host the four-team Jewels of the Caribbean under-17 invitational tournament, which kicks off with a double-header at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar on Saturday.
T&T will have an "A" team and a "B" team in the tournament, which features the visiting Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) teams. T&T's "B" team will open the tournament with their encounter against SVG from 1 pm at the Malabar venue on Saturday. T&T's "A" team will then play Grenada from 3 pm.
Each team will play one game against the other in a group format, with the two T&T teams squaring off on Sunday from 6 pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo.
The invitational tournament will conclude on Wednesday with a final and third-place playoff to be contested at the Larry Gomes Stadium.
In August, the T&T under-17 team, coached by Rajesh Latchoo, competed in the Concacaf under-17 women's qualifiers. After convincing victories in their first two matches against Cayman Islands and Curacao, T&T were stopped short of qualifying for the 2024 Concacaf women’s under-17 Championship by a 6-0 loss to El Salvador in their final qualifying match.
Pleasantville Secondary standout attacker Nikita Gosine and Scarborough Secondary forward J'Eleisha Alexander, who won the Secondary Schools Football League's (SSFL) girls' MVP for 2022, were two of T&T's star performers in the Concacaf qualifiers. Alexander debuted for coach Richard Hood's T&T women's team in their Concacaf Gold Cup qualifier against Mexico on December 5.
Admission is free to the public.
SOURCE: T&T Newsday