T&T U-20 Soca Princesses camp is aloft with confidence ahead of its Concacaf Final Round Tournament and according to Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, this can be largely attributed to the thrust that the T&T Football Federation has made in women’s football over the past two years.
“There has been a definite thrust in women’s football and its development,” said Warner, who continued: “It has been a positive thrust, but a costly one which has been overlooked far too long. It has been looked at as an oversight and in the last year or so, we have given it a new lease of life.”
The team leaves for Guatemala tomorrow ahead of the tournament which takes place from January 19-30, while it expects to play two warm-up matches against Costa Rica prior to its first match.
Warner also noted that the national senior team captain, Maylee Johnson has recently been appointed manager of the U-20 women team.
Also at the press conference, was Technical director of women’s football, Even Pellerud, who gave his assessment on the progress of the U-17 team since his appointment as coach, just over a year ago as well as that of the U-20s and U-15s.
He explained that the days of preparing a successful team with a one week camp are gone and football is about the daily struggle on the field to get everything right. He said that while this may be possible with a proper local league where players are properly trained by coaches from a young age, T&T does not have this luxury.
He said: “I am happy to say that in 2009 we saw a big change already and this is through the TTFF funding the U-17 team so that they can be on the field six days a week.”
“Is everything perfect? No, we have a lot to do with all programmes,” said Pellerud. He also stressed the need for more international matches to better prepare the U-17s for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup which will be held in T&T from September 5-25.
Head coach of the Under-20 team Jamaal Shabazz explained that his team is ready intensity, fitness and aggression wise and has moved from one that was being slaughtered in the past, to one that can compete.
“Now T&T can compete at the Concacaf level, before we participated, now we compete and we have worked very hard going into this tournament.