Camille Borneo, captain of the Trinidad and Tobago National Under 17 Women’s football team was rated as the best performing player in the recently concluded three-match training camp in South Korea by head coach Even Pellerud.
The 23-member team returned home on Monday morning following their extensive training camp at the renowned Korea Republic National Football Center in Paju, thanks to the efforts of TTFF Special Advisor Jack Warner.
Pellerud said his girls returned home a wiser bunch and he believed they better off in terms of physical readiness for the game on an international level. T&T won the opener 3-1 before going down 4-1 and 6-0 in the other games against the Korean national under 17 team.
“For many if not all of them, it was the first kind of trip like this where they were exposed to playing against a top international team away from home and also using facilities like they had the chance to in Paju,” Pellerud told TTFF Media.
“Yes it was bad note to end the tour on with the 6-0 loss but overall there are a lot of positives we have brought back and this can serve us well in our continued preparations for the tournament in September. We had some very good individual players and it’s important that they are mentioned as we get closer to the Finals. For me the best player overall on this tour was Camille Borneo as she was a good leader for the team and performed her roles well on the playing field.”
With the draw for the finals set for May 5 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain where FIFA officials and contingents of the 16 participating countries scheduled to attend, Pellerud realizes too that his players will be anxiously awaiting the date when they will find out which teams they will face off against in the opening group stage. And according to Borneo, her teammates are preparing themselves for anything.
“Right now we are getting ready to take on whatever comes at us. We are just preparing to do our best on that world stage which will be right here in Trinidad,” Borneo told TTFF Media.
Looking back at the Korean tour, she added “This has been a good learning experience for us. The Team has really bonded and despite the challenges of the cold weather, time difference, which didn't really affect us as such, I think the team really adjusted well. My personal lesson from this tour is that your best is never enough, in that no matter how well you may play or perform, there's always work to be done that can help you get even better.”
And Kayla Taylor, the TTFF’s 2009 Women’s “Player of the Year” and nominee for the FCB Sportswoman of the Year” feels that if the team can continue such intense and detailed preparations for the tournament in September, then they should be in good shape to take on their opponents,
“This has been a great experience in our preparation for the World Cup. With the time difference and climate change, it certainly helped in making us more mentally tough. At this time, we need to continue to work just as hard or even harder to make us sharper and more aware of game tactics, so that we can be ready for teams that may want to exploit our weak areas,” Taylor said.
Pellerud will resume training with the team within the coming week.