Soca Princesses tackle Venezuela
T&T GuardianT&T’s Under-17 Soca Princesses will continue their countdown to the Fifa Under-17 World Cup opener against Chile with a friendly international away to Venezuela today in Puerto La Cruz. The local squad of 22 players and coach Even Pellerud left here yesterday and will also meet the South Americans on Wednesday before returning home to go into a full time live-in camp leading up to their opening match against Chile on September 5 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.
T&T will also face Nigeria and Korea DPR in their group matches in the 16-team tournament while Venezuela will open their Group C campaign against New Zealand at the Ato Boldon Stadium on September 6 before facing Japan at the Couva venue on September 9 and Spain at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium on September 13.
Looking ahead to the upcoming back-to-back matches, Pellerud said it would serve his team well in its final build-up to the tournament. “The two matches have come at a good time for us because now we are nearing the tournament and the players will have the opportunity to get match practice against a decent opposition who will have the similar South American style to our first match opponents on September 5,” Pellerud said.
Asked about his team’s readiness to play in front of anticipated large crowds in September, Pellerud said he didn’t think they would suffer for not having a full slate of matches at home during the preparations. “I don’t think it would be a disadvantage. If anything, I think it will spur them on more to play in front of a large home crowd and to see the fans who are there behind them in every match. We have played the likes of Canada and Mexico at home before so it’s not a matter of the girls playing at home for the first time against an international opposition when September 5 arrives.
“At this point, we are focused on preparing the girls for the upcoming matches and of course it should be understood that the type of preparation at this point of the build up as compared to what we did earlier on, perhaps six months or six weeks ago, will be a bit different but all in relation to getting the team as best ready as possible for the World Cup itself,” Pellerud added.
T&T squadKeri Myers, Linfah Jones, Shalette Alexander, Camille Borneo, Rehana Omardeen, Khadisha Debesette, Lauren Schmidt (captain), Patrice Vincent, Tineisha Cobham, Victoria Swift, Khadidra Debesette, Patrice Campbell, Nykosi Simmons, Diarra Simmons, Liana Hinds, Kayla Taylor, Jo-Marie Lewis, Camille Charles, Brianna Ryce, Emma Abdul, Courtney Bahadursingh, Nykosi Simmons