U-17 Women begin quest for second World Cup appearance

[Tallman]

U-17 Women begin quest for second World Cup appearance
By Shaun Fuentes (TTFF)

Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 Women’s team will begin their quest for a second consecutive appearance at a FIFA Women’s World Cup when they face Dominica in a CFU qualifying encounter at the Larry Gomes Stadium from 6pm on Wednesday.

The team, under head coach Stephan De Four, had their final practice session on Tuesday morning and is now set to begin their campaign.

De Four has five players from the previous Under 17 team which participated at the 2010 World Cup in T&T in his present squad including team captain Anique Walker, Victoria Swift, Diarra Simmons and twin sisters Khadidra and Khadisha Debesette. The latter sister will however not be in the team for Wednesday’s encounter.

“We had our final session this morning and the girls are looking pretty sharp,” De Four told TTFF Media.

“They actually can’t wait to get on the pitch and begin the competition. We’ve had some obstacles but we haven’t allowed that to deter us from being focused, we have kept pushing on and ensuring that we are ready for this competition. Our expectations are nothing less than a win tomorrow,” he added.

De Four stated that the opportunity for every player from the current squad to witness a FIFA U-17 World Cup first hand in 2010 along with the inclusion of players who were in the 2010 squad both for the World Cup and the Singapore Youth Olympic Games is a major plus.

“It’s a big incentive for the girls particularly as they were able to experience what is at stake for them. We have players who played in a World Cup as well as the youth Olympics. They are now ready to put their efforts together to qualify for another major competition.”

The T&T team has played one friendly against Barbados’ U20s which they won 4-0 and are currently atop the T&T Women’s Lucky Bakery Football League standings. Walker and Khadidra Debesette were among the scorers in the friendly win.

T&T will play Dominica there on September 20  and  then face St Kitts/Nevis there on October 2 and at home three days later. The group winners will join Jamaica, Bahamas and Guyana in a four-team CFU second round round-robin series from which the top three teams will advance to the CONCACAF finals.

T&T Squad
 1.  Sheniece David (GK)
 2.  Shantel Christian (GK)
 3.  Marlique Asson (DEF)
 4.  Adeka Spence (DEF)
 5.  Abigail Jacob (DEF)
 6.  Corinna Sequea (DEF)
 7.  Tonietta Phillip (DEF)
 8.  Olivia Jaggernauth (DEF)
 9.  Victoria Swift (MF)
10. Khadidra Debesette
11. Marie Guissepi
12. Shenice Garcia
13. Darian Diaz
14. Naomie Guerra
15. Anique Walker (capt)
16. Diarra Simmons
17. Khadisha De Freitas
18. Zoe Swift

Reserves
Shenice Harding
Donicia Prince

[D.H.W]

im hearing they win 13 nil 

[Tallman]

Soca Princesses resume training
T&T Guardian

The national Under-17 women’s squad will resume training for its remaining Caribbean Football Union Group B qualifiers against St Kitts/Nevis today from 5 pm. Coach Stephan De Four and the Soca Princesses, who are coming off of two comfortable victories over Dominica (13-0) and (5-0) in their first couple of matches in the three-team group will train at Woodford Lodge, Chaguanas from 5 pm today and at UWI Ground, St Augustine from 9 am tomorrow. All the players who were involved in the wins over Dominica with the exception of Canadian-based striker, Diarra Simmons are in the training squad along with Shenice Harding, Donicia Prince, Jonelle Warrick and Shenesa Camejo.

T&T, which participated in last year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup as host will face St Kitts/Nevis on October 2 and 5 in its final two matches. But prior to its matches against T&T, St Kitts/Nevis faces Dominica on Sunday and Wednesday. From the three-team group, only the winner will  join other group winners, Jamaica, Bahamas and Guyana in a four-team CFU second round round-robin series from which the top three teams will advance to the CONCACAF finals, the final round of qualification for next year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan.

[Tallman]

Jamaica to host CFU women's Group E qualifying round
Jamaica Gleaner

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) will host Group E of the final stage of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women's Under-17 qualification round to be held November 27 to December 4.

The participating countries will be Guyana, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and hosts Jamaica.

In the absence of having a host country, the CFU asked Jamaica to host as the alternative format of home and away would prove far more costly for all competing countries, including Jamaica, a release from the JFF yesterday. The final agreement between the CFU and JFF was arrived at on Tuesday.

The hosting of the tournament will, in the view of the JFF, further strengthen the renewed interest in women's football, which was ignited with the recently staged FIFA Women's Development Seminar held in September, and the just-concluded Sherwin Williams Women's League.

Since the staging of the FIFA seminar, the JFF has discussed and submitted to FIFA a detailed plan for the development of the sport which has an emphasis on grassroots involvement of girls, as well as developing the sport at the under-15 age level, the release said.

The qualifiers will begin on November 29 with a double-header, Guyana vs Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica vs Bahamas. The three top teams at the end of the tournament will advance to the eight-team CONCACAF stage of the qualifiers to be held next year.

The JFF has convened a Local Organising Committee which had its first meeting yesterday.

The JFF has appealed to corporate Jamaica for help in making the tournament a success, and has called for volunteer support.