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T&T hunts Concacaf semifinal spot.
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Even a loss against Guatemala tonight may not rule T&T’s senior women’s team out of a spot in the semifinal stage of the Concacaf Women’s Championship, once the USA records an expected win over Haiti.

 There are a number of variables which could determine which two teams between the USA, T&T and Haiti advances, but once USA defeats Haiti, T&T will likely finish in second spot, barring a heavy loss to Guatemala.

T&T and Guatemala will clash in the opening double-header match at the RFK Stadium, Washington, from 6 pm (TT time), before the USA meets Haiti in the last match of Group A, from 8.30 pm.

Costa Rica has already secured top spot in Group B and Mexico and Jamaica are the two teams left to contest for second spot.

Speaking ahead of today’s mouth-watering double contest, T&T head coach Randy Waldrum refuted any ideas of complacency in his team.

“I don’t think I’ll have to say much. They all understand the objective was to get six points however we could. They all realize the significance of this game. It’s now just a matter of us coming out and performing to our ability. If we do that, we will be fine,” Waldrum said.

Echoing sentiments of captain Maylee Atton Johnson, Waldrum admitted that his team was far from its best three days ago in the 1-0 victory over Haiti, which T&T grinded out after losing goalkeeper Kimika Forbes to a red card on the hour-mark.

“There were mixed feelings as we knew we didn’t play very well and definitely not up to our standards. However, they were very excited to get the three points in spite of not playing well. We feel that is the sign of a very good team,” he added. 

The team has had some injury concerns and Waldrum believes the three-day break between the second and third match has allowed the players to recuperate and regroup. 

“These two days were really important. We’ve had injuries to Janine Francois, Karyn Forbes, Ayana Russell and Tasha St Louis, and this allowed just a bit more time for them to recover. And playing a player down for over 30 minutes meant we expended a lot of energy, especially coming off the game versus the US. So the added day rest is very crucial.”

At the semifinal stage, the two winners will secure their spots at next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Canada, while the third-place playoff winner will also qualify. There will be one more chance for the fourth placed team, which will meet Ecuador in a two-match play-off for Concacaf and Comnebol’s final World Cup qualifier.

Standings (Group A)

Teams    Pld    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
USA    2    2    0    0    6    0    6
T&T    2    1    0    1    1    1    3
Haiti    2    1    0    1    1    1    3
Guatemala    2    0    0    2    0    6    0

Group B

Teams    Pld    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
Costa Rica    2    2    0    0    3    6
Mexico    2    1    0    1    10    1    3
Jamaica    2    1    0    1    7    2    3
Martinique    2    0    0    2    0    16    0

Fixtures

Group A

T&T v Guatemala, RFK Stadium, Washington, 6 pm
Haiti v USA, RFK Stadium, Washington, 8.30 pm

Group B

Martinique v Costa Rica, RFK Stadium, Washington, 6 pm
Mexico v Jamaica, RFK Stadium, Washington, 8.30 pm

Friday

Semifinals

Winner Group A v Runner-up Group B, PPL Park, Chester, 5.30 pm
Costa Rica v Runner-up Group A, PPL Park, Chester, 8.30 pm 

Sunday

Third-place match

Loser semifinal 1 v Loser semifinal 2, PPL Park, Chester, 4 pm

Final

Winner semifinal 1 v winner semifinal 2, PPL Park, Chester, 7 pm 

RELATED NEWS

Women 'Warriors' look to seal knockout spot.
By Shaun Fuentes (TTFA).


The past two days have been all about recovery for this country’s senior women’s footballers. And the possible effects of that will be known on Monday evening when they square off with Guatemala in their final Group encounter at the CONCACAF Finals in Washington. Overworked or not, T&T intends to do whatever is necessary to progress.

Needing only a draw to assure themselves of a place in the semi-finals, barring a Haiti win over the United States, skipper Maylee Attin-Johnson and her teammates know they have everything to play for.

And Head coach Randy Waldrum believes his team can finish the job.

“I don’t think I’ll have to say much. They all understand the objective was to get six points however we could. They all realize the significance of this game. It’s now just a matter of us coming out and performing to our ability. If we do that, we will be fine,” Waldrum told TTFA Media.

He mentioned that the performance against Haiti was less than satisfying but it brought the three points which they needed to stay alive in the competition.

“There were mixed feelings as we knew we didn’t play very well and definitely not up to our standards.  However, they were very excited to get the three points in spite of not playing well. We feel that is the sign of a very good team,” he added.

“I really thought it came down to being opportunistic. We didn’t create many quality chances at all, and yet ‘Yaya’ scored a very good goal at any level. It was a nice counter attack the culminated in the cross and finish. After the ejection our team just dug in and fought hard which is why we were able to hang on.”

About the post match recovery, The Houston Dash coach said, “These two days were really important.  We’ve had injuries to Janine Francois, Karyn Forbes, Ayana Russell and Tasha St. Louis, and this allowed just a bit more time for them to recover. And playing a player down for over 30 minutes meant we expended a lot of energy, especially coming off the game versus the US.  So the added day rest is very crucial.”

The game kicks off at 5pm at the RFK Stadium in Washington and precedes the US vs Haiti clash at 7:30pm.

The CONCACAF Women’s Championship will qualify its top three finishers directly to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, with the fourth-placed team earning the right to face a South American country in a playoff later this year. As host of the Women’s World Cup 2015, Canada has already secured its place in next year’s tournament.

PPL Park in Philadelphia will host the semifinal matches on October 24, along with the third-place match and final on October 26. The top two finishers in each group will cross-over for the semifinal matches, with the Group A winner playing the Group B runner-up and vice versa, for a spot in the final.

The play-off will be contested between CONCACAF's fourth-placed team and Ecuador, South America’s third place team. The draw for the order of legs was held in Zurich on 22 July 2014. The South America representative will host the first leg on 8 or 9 November 2014, and the CONCACAF representative will host the second leg on 22 or 23 November 2014.