The Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 women football team will participate in a two-match tour of Brazil, from July 19 to 31.
A 25-member team, under Norwegian-born coach Even Pellerud, was announced yesterday, which will see Trinidad and Tobago (hosts of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in September), face the Brazilians in two matches on July 25 and 30.
In a media conference yesterday at the CONCACAF office on Edward Street, Port-of-Spain, Pellerud is hopeful that the team will have top class competitive action before the World Cup.
“We will certainly have more games than these two,” he said. “But I’m not in a position now to tell you the exact number or what kind of opposition we’ll have in August. We’re working on that,” said Pellerud.
Hema Ramkissoon, Communications Manager of the World Cup’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), stated that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) is reviewing Pellerud’s plans and recommendations, concerning warm-up matches for the national team.
“The TTFF is as committed as it can be to ensure that this Under-17 team gets as much exposure as it can get, to ensure that this team is fully ready to face any level of competition that it may face in the Under-17 tournament,” Ramkissoon said.. Since the team’s tour of South Korea in April, there have been no warm- up matches for the team, which is a blend of local and foreign-born players.
“What we noticed in Korea was that we needed to build some more strength and muscles in the players,” Pellerud noted. “They’re not small but they are smaller in size than the teams we’ll play in the World Cup.
“We found that we’re not strong enough so we have spent lots of hours in the gym since April and the girls have really started to enjoy finding out that building muscles is helping out in their play.
“We have really good experiences in the last couple months in the gym,” he added. “We’ve had a very high volume of training sessions as well.
“We’ve had days of three sessions and we’ve had no really big problems doing it because the girls have learnt to recover by eating well, drinking well and rest. We’ve started six o’clock in the mornings and finish seven o’clock at nights. So they’re really spent the time well.”
Pellerud remained philosophical about the team’s chances at the World Cup. “Whether we win all the games or lose all the games, we’re going to be very competitive,” he stated.
“It’s no doubt that this team will create a new landscape for sports in Trinidad and Tobago. I cannot even foresee any team outplaying us or beating us easily. It’s going to be very competitive,” he said. The national team was involved in a live-in camp at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macoya since the end of June, with US-born Annette Mims and Amira Walcott failing to make the grade for the Brazil trip. But Walcott’s twin sister Nia is among the 25.
Under-17 Women’s Squad -
Players: Camille Borneo (capt), Keri Myers, Linfah Jones, Shalette Alexander, Rehana Omardeen, Khadisha Debisette, Khadidra Debisette, Lauren Schmidt, Patrice Vincent, Jonelle Warrick, Tineisha Cobham, Victoria Swift, Nia Walcott, Patrice Campbell, Nykosi Simmons, Diarra Simmons, Jasmine Sampson, Liana Hinds, Kayla Taylor, Jo-Marie Lewis, Camille Charles, Anique Walker, Brianna Ryce, Emma Abdul, Courtney Bahadursingh.
Officials: Even Pellerud (coach), Richard Hood (assistant coach), Jinelle James (manager), Ricarda Nelson (assistant manager), Chris Bailey (trainer), Nicole Kistow (physio), Claire George (equipment manager), Marius Rovde (goalkeeper coach), Glennon Foncette (assistant goalkeeper coach).