U-17 girls heading to Korea.
T&T Express Reports.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-17 ’Soca Princesses’ will get some welcome practice matches when they travel to South Korea on Sunday for a three-match training camp ahead of September’s youth World Cup.
T&T are in the preparation stages as hosts of the 2010 FIFA Under-17 tournament.
The local girls recently had some promising performances at home in last month’s four-nation tournament, holding CONCACAF powerhouses Canada to a 1-1 draw at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella.
In South Korea, T&T will be based at the Paju National Football Centre. They will face the South Koreans, who have already qualified for the World Cup, in matches on April 5, 7 and 10.
Coach Evan Pellerud, also the T&T Football Federation’s (T&TFF) women’s technical director, is pleased about the experience his young charges will get from the short tour.
’I’ve said before that the important action (is) for us to get as many games as possible under our belt, and preferably against good teams,’ Pellerud told TTFF media yesterday.
He continued: ’And seeing now that Korea won the Asian qualification, I can say that we will be playing against one of the better teams in the world.’
The prospect of playing opponents outside of CONCACAF is also exciting for Pellerud.
’This is a wonderful opportunity to play against a team of another style and philosophy in our preparation for the World Cup. It’s another phase of our preparation and educating process of our team.’
The Norwegian stated that the tour is the future of women’s football in Trinidad, and so getting the experience of long trips is something they will need to learn as well.
This is not the first trip to South Korea for a T&T team. In 2007, T&T’s Under-20 boys had a training camp there, while the Under-17 boys competed at the 2007 World Cup in that country.
T&T’s senior men also played to a 1-1 draw in Seoul back in 2004.