Fever on for Warriors
The hype surrounding the December 2 Fifa Women’s World Cup second leg intercontinental playoff between T&T and Ecuador is expected to reach fever pitch this week with the thrust of the “Be the 12th Warrior” campaign.
The Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain, the venue for the final showdown, can only seat 22,500 spectators and by all indications, almost half have already been claimed by ticket sales.
The tickets are priced at $200 for covered seats and $100 for uncovered seats. Children under the age of 12 can enter free of charge. Tickets will also be sold on match day. That is, if there are any remaining.
Tickets went on sale a week ago at venues including The Fan Club (MovieTowne, Trincity Mall, and Gulf City Mall), Kenny’s, Skinner Park, All Out and according to Sheldon Phillips, general secretary of the T&T Football Association (TTFA), the original batch of 10,000 is said to be quickly diminishing.
So much so that agents have been calling on the TTFA for more tickets to be printed.
Phillips said yesterday, he was happy and excited at the hype and pleased to see so many fans are behind the women.
In an effort to make the experience as memorable as possible, the “12th Warrior” campaign was launched with a special commemorative fan T-shirt being sold for the match.
The original fan tee shirts will go on sale tomorrow at a number of venues including the three outlets of The Fan Club, at a cost of $150 (men and women) and $120 (children).
The Fan Club was contacted yesterday to give an indication of sale of ticket sales and Tyrone Alexander, manager the Trincity Mall branch indicated that his first batch of uncovered tickets were almost sold out. He said he will need to replenish tickets before the store closes today.
According to Alexander, The Fan Club’s most popular branch located in MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain, has almost been unable to keep up with the demand.
The “Be the 12th Warrior” campaign was created to rally support for the Women’s Soca Warriors, who have ambitions of becoming the first country from the Caribbean to qualify for the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Qualification would see T&T become the second smallest nation, behind Equatorial Guinea to claim such a feat.
Yesterday 22 players were named to enter the live-in camp, led by head coach Randy Waldrum at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain, from tomorrow.
Leading forward Kennya Cordner who recently represented T&T at in the women’s competition at the CAC Games in Mexico, has returned to join the team.
The remaining players include captain Maylee Attin Johnson, Ayanna Russell, Patrice Superville, Ahkeela Mollon, Mariah Shade, Janine Francois, Arin King, Khadisha Debbesette, Khadidra Debbesette, Tasha St Louis, Anique Walker, Dernelle Mascall, Jasmine Sampson, Lauryn Hutchinson, Brianna Ryce, Kimika Forbes, along with newcomers in sisters Nia Walcott and Amira Walcott.
Like the Debbesette sisters, the Walcott sisters have both represented T&T at youth level and will now begin preparing for the most important football match of their lives.
The Walcott sisters made headlines in 2010 when they were named in the T&T which hosted the Fifa Under-17 World Cup.
Where to get tickets
The Fan Club (MovieTowne, POS)
The Fan Club (Trincity Mall, East)
The Fan Club (Gulf City Mall, South)
Kenny’s Sports Centre
Skinner Park (San Fernando)
Ramsingh’s Sporting Goods (Chaguanas)
All Out (Queen’s Park Oval)
Econo Supermarket (Sangre Grande)
Heritage Sport (Scarborough).
Tickets Cost: $200 (covered) and $100 (uncovered).
Kids under 12: free in the uncovered section.
Gates Open: 3pm.
Kick off: 6pm.