TT meet US in CONCACAF Olympic event

SAN JOSE: Trinidad and Tobago women footballers will begin their quest for a place in the Athens, Greece, Olympics later this month when they take on the United States here today.

The Trini girls are in Group B. Others in the group are Haiti and Mexico.
Today’s matches kick off the CONCACAF zonal Women’s Olympic Final Round Qualification. Matches will take place at the Estadios Nacional and Eladio Rosabal Cordero in San Jose and Heredia. Since the inception of the women’s football competition at the Summer Games eight years ago, CONCACAF has sent one qualifier to each of the last two Olympics (1996, 2000), in both cases the USA. This year, however,  CONCACAF will qualify two teams to Athens, Greece, as the Confederation stages their  first ever Final Round Qualification.

The CONCACAF tournament, which ends on March 5, will feature two groups of four teams with Canada, Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica in Group A. Also today, Mexico will oppose Haiti in the first of six consecutive first round doubleheaders (three each in Groups A and B) until March 1. The semifinal matches are scheduled for March 3 at the Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. Two days later, on March 5, the tournament concludes at Heredia’s Estadio Eladio Rosabal Cordero with the third-place game and the final, with both finalists earning the two CONCACAF berths for the 2004 Olympics.