“The mood has been very good. The staff is a very good one and the players absolutely know what is at stake and are embracing the challenge.”
Randy Waldrum, head coach of T&T’s senior women’s team said he believes his team is physically and mentally prepared for tomorrow’s first leg Fifa Women’s World Cup intercontinental playoff against Ecuador.
T&T will face Ecuador from 2 pm (4 pm TT time) and will be seeking a positive result ahead of the December 2 return leg, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain, which will ultimately decide whether a fourth Concacaf (North, Central America and Caribbean) team or a third Comnebol (South America) team will qualify for next year’s World Cup in Canada.
Neither Ecuador nor T&T have ever qualified for a Fifa Women’s World Cup. In fact, no Caribbean nation has ever qualified for a Women’s World Cup.
These next three weeks serve as the “Women Soca Warriors’” best opportunity to do so.
“The ability to be together in our preparations as a team is huge for us. I think everyone is just anxious for the game to get here,” Waldrum added in an interview with the Guardian.
The former Under-17 national women’s team coach said support team, which comprises a conditioning coach, a team doctor, a trainer, a massage therapist, along with a coaching and management staff have all pooled their strengths together to have the women prepared for perhaps their biggest challenge.
“That is, dealing with the altitude of Quito, the highest official capital in the world. He said he was grateful for the team’s chance to train at Mexican national team training centre until Wednesday.
During their stay, the women’s team took played a warm up match against an academy team and secured a 6-0 win via goals from Tasha St Louis, new addition Candice Edwards, Kennya Cordner, Dernelle Mascall (one each) and a double from Ahkeela Mollon.
The team left Mexico and arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a city at sea level, on Wednesday and have participated in one training session.
Today, they will arrive in Quito. The Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa (capacity 40,948), with an elevation of 2,782m, the venue for the match has played some part in Ecuador’s undisputed home advantage in international football competition.
While the majority of players have prepared for the challenge in Mexico, a number of college-based players were unable to do so due to their school restrictions. Some rejoined the team in Guayaquil yesterday and some will arrive today, before departing for Quito.
In explaining the rationale behind this, Waldrum said: “The science tells us that if players cannot train in altitude, then the best way to cope with it is to come in 48-66 hours before the game and play close to time of arrival. I am not too terribly concerned about it as I think we have covered all bases on preparing for it the best way we could with the time we had to do so.”
Quoted in a media release from the T&T Football Association (TTFA) issued yesterday T&T forward Dernelle Mascall said she and her teammates are keeping focused for tomorrow’s encounter.
“We’re all keeping our minds focused on going into Saturday’s match and keeping it together and trying to put on a strong performance,” Mascall said. “We’ve had a really good few days in the build up to the match. The camp in Mexico served its purpose and now we’re just looking ahead to the game to ensure we are ready as can be for Saturday.”