TT women’s American coach expects tough battle in U-17s

The national team beat El Salvador 5-1 in their Group “A” clash at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, while Costa Rica lost to the United States 6-0.

Canada, Jamaica, Mexico and Puerto Rico will contest Group “B”, with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the semi-finals on Thursday while the final, and third-place playoff, will take place on July 27.

The finalists, as well as the third-place finisher, will progress to the inaugural FIFA Women’s Under-17 World Cup in New Zealand from October 28 to November 16.

Waldrum, who, along with fellow Americans Robert “Butch” Lauffer and William “Skip” Thorp joined Marlon Charles as the coaching staff on May 5, noted in an interview last week that the team is bracing for any eventuality that comes it way.

“We’ve put three different phases into this programme when I first got here,” Waldrum said. “We’re now in the final phase of getting it ready for this tournament and (they are) one, we’ve simulated everything that we think the tournament is going to bring, all of our meals, all of our practice times, everything is structured like it will happen in the tournament.

Waldrum continued, “The second thing we’ve spent time on is trying to enhance our professional abilities because that’s the last piece we were going to put in. “In addition to that, we’re just trying to fine-tune all of our dead-ball situations, our free-kick situations,” he added. “We’ve worked with how we’re going to play with a man up, how we’ll play with a man down.

“So we’ve try to simulate situational things that could come up during the course of the tournament.”

Since the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) qualifying phase in March, when Trinidad and Tobago prevailed in their group after wins over Grenada, St Kitts/Nevis and Suriname, the team has undergone a metamorphosis, with captain Mariah Shade, defenders Tiana Bateau, Latifa Kelly and Rhea Belgrave, defender/midfielder Karyn Forbes, midfielders Afiya Mathias and Cassey McKenzie remaining in the 20- member squad, while another local-based player, midfielder Natasha St Louis (sister of national player Tasha St Louis) have also been included.

Two other local players are the reserves – defender Camille Borneau, who was also part of the CFU event, and right-winger Kayla Taylor.

But the other 12 members of the squad were born in North America (all qualifying to represent TT due to parentage) – seven in the USA and five in Canada.

The American-born players are goalkeepers Saundra Baron and Ashley Mullins, defender Taylor Mimms, midfielder Jessica De Leon (daughter of the famed Leroy De Leon), strikers Natasha Prentice, Shahamin Nunes and Shakirah Salandy – Salandy was part of the team in March.

Defenders Camille Pereira and Rebecca Cuthbert, and the midfield trio of Stephanie Williams, Arin King and Sidonia Hoareau originate from Canada.

Waldrum pointed out that he was appreciative of the local-based squad who advanced from the CFU round. “They’re responsible in getting us here,” he said. “Obviously we’re very appreciative of what they’ve done.”