Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers will have to face the United States both at home and away in Group C of the CONCACAF Semi-final round of World Cup qualification for the Russia 2018 World Cup, beginning in November. This was determined at the preliminary draw held in St Petersburg, Russia yesterday. T&T will face off with the United States and the winners of the St Vincent/Grenadines versus Aruba and Guatemala versus Antigua/Barbuda ties.
It was also determined at the draw that CONCACAF’s fourth placed team will meet Asia’s fifth placed team in the intercontinental playoff for a place in Russia. The top two teams from Group C will advance to the Final Round of Six teams from which the top three automatically qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals.
In an immediate response, T&T Senior Team head coach Stephen Hart warned that the Group will be a challenging one.
“The draw is favourable on paper,” Hart told TTFA Media. “But home and away matches are always an extremely difficult and complex situation. If you look at how Guatemala looked in in the Central American qualification for the Gold Cup, they were almost unbeatable at home and they went all the way to the Final. They can be a very tricky opponent if they get into that round,” Hart added. “And of course we will not take any of the other opponents lightly regardless of who they are.”
Regarding T&T’s build up to the November start of Group C, Hart says it was in T&T’s hands now. “Hopefully we can play on every FIFA Date between then and now and play against similar opposition to what we will meet.
“It’s unrealistic to look at the team’s performance at Gold Cup and think this is just going to transfer itself unto the World Cup qualification. The team needs to prepare properly. If we don’t have proper preparation, things like this are a rolling of the dice.” Hart also thanked the various supporters during T&T’s recent Gold Cup campaign, including the TTFA, the Ministry of Sport, Sportt and all those who contributed in some manner.
“Thanks very much on behalf of the players, myself and the staff. We put everything out there and your support meant a lot to us,” Hart added.
St Vincent and the Grenadines are likely to be tricky opposition. Both teams met in the semi-final stage of the 2006 qualification and it took an Errol McFarlane double in the 80th and 85th minutes to come away 2-0 winners at Arnos Vale. In the return match, T&T came from a goal down to win 2-1 on goals by Angus Eve and Hector Sam in the closing seven minutes. Guatemala proved to be formidable opponents for T&T in the semi-final phase in 2008 and the final round in 2005.
In 2008, T&T and USA were also in the same semi-final group for the 2010 qualifiers with T&T coming in second, defeating the US 2-1 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on goals by Russell Latapy and Dwight Yorke.
CONCACAF SemiFinal Groups
Group C: USA, T&T, St Vincent and the Grenadines/Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda/Guatemala.
Group A: Mexico, Honduras, Curacao/El Salvador, Canada/Belize.
Group B: Costa Rica, Panama, Grenada/Haiti, Jamaica/Nicaragua