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“Coming into this tournament we knew all we needed was two wins to get out the group.. Those two wins have now seen us into the semi finals where we hope to make it three wins in a row.”

Those were the words of Trinidad and Tobago Women’s Team captain Maylee Attin-Johnson following T&T’s 2-1 victory over Guatemala on Monday night to seal this country’s place in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in Chester, Pennsylvania on Friday.

The squad was scheduled to arrive in Chester around 3pm T&T time on Tuesday.

“We knew US was going to be a challenging one. For us we always believed that we were a class above Haiti and Guatemala,” she continued.

About her penalty strike which turned out to be the winner after Guatemala pulled a goal back later on, Attin-Johnson added: “It definitely boosted my confidence. I haven't been playing my usual game but I think this game I came into my own on the offensive side of things which is a plus for the team.”


Admitting that the build up to the tournament had its challenges for the T&T team, Attin-Johnson credited the TTFA for being able to negotiate to have Randy Waldrum take over the reigns of the team prior to the Caribbean Finals which followed a training camp in Houston earlier this year. He is assisted by his son Ben and goalkeeper coach Lincoln Phillips.

“I definitely want to give credit to the Association (TTFA) for bringing in Randy at the time they did. It's a fantastic feeling seeing that all the hardwork is finally coming to fruition and things began falling into place better late than never. We have a world class coaching staff that prepares us well for each game. Once we execute the game plan it's going to be difficult to beat us and we hope that on Friday we go out there and do so,” she stated.

The Central FC player the team is eager to turn the tables on Costa Rica after they defeated the T&T Under 20 Women in their final World Cup qualifying match in January.

“We haven't played to our full potential thus far and we haven't fielded our full team throughout this tournament due to injuries, so we hope that the three days rest will do well for the injured ones. We are very anxious for this game and we want to avenge the Under 20 loss to them.”

If T&T does not get the win on Friday, they will have a further chance to book their World Cup spot at the third place match on Sunday and a possible home and away playoff with Ecuador looms in November.