National Women’s Under-17 team captain Camille Borneo says there’s hardly a night that goes by when she doesn’t envision what the stage will be like when the national team run out onto the Hasely Crawford Stadium pitch to play the opening match of the 2010 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup on September 5.
Borneo, who wore the captain’s armband at the recent Four-Nation tournament, was speaking at Friday’s training session at the Marvin Lee Stadium as coach Even Pellerud put the players through their paces ahead of their upcoming three-match tour of South Korea.
The Under-17 squad leave today and Wednesday in two batches and will assemble in Canada before journeying to Seoul.
’It’s really an exciting time for us. A bit nervous, yes, but more exciting because we are really looking forward to the tournament to show what we have developed into as a team and for the chance to make the country proud,’ Borneo said.
’We feel optimistic with our progress so far and especially the result against Canada (a 1-1 draw in the Four Nations tournament earlier this month at Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella. That has made us realise that we’ve been getting better and we are capable of competing against one of the best teams in the world right now.’
Borneo and her teammates will be going on a more than 15-hour flight for the first time in their lives and will have to adjust to the time difference, with Seoul being 13 hours ahead of T&T.
’It’s going to be tough but we are very eager for the experience and to see how much it can help our development. Just going out there and training and getting the games under our belt will be a big plus for us. But, of course, we want to ensure we come back home as a stronger team for the World Cup in September,’ she added.
Pellerud talked about the importance of his team members being able to build further camaraderie during the upcoming tour.
’These girls are getting exposed to international football and the trip will be very challenging so we need to be smart in a lot of areas. I will be looking at several aspects of our preparations and readiness during this tour. The girls will not adjust easily to the time difference so we will have one session per day and then, of course, play the games.
’It will be a toughening-up experience for them. We will have 15 home-based players and seven overseas. We will miss a couple of them because of school commitments but this is the reality and it will give a couple of the other players an opportunity,’ said Pellerud.
The team will play three matches--on April 5, 7 and 10--against South Korea’s national Under-17 team who have already booked their spot in September’s World Cup here in T&T.
Soca Princesses off to South Korea.
By: Ian Prescott (T&T Express).
Trinidad and Tobago’s national Under-17 women footballers will depart for South Korea in two batches today as they continue preparations for the 2010 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup with a three-match training camp.
The Soca Princesses will be based at the Paju National Football Centre (NFC) and will play matches against the South Korean Under-17s on April 5, 7 and 10.
Like hosts Trinidad and Tobago, South Korea have already qualified for the Under-17 World Cup to be played in T&T from September 5-25.
’These girls need to be exposed to football at the top level,’ said T&T’s Norwegian head coach Even Pellerud at a training session on Friday evening at Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.
’We know that South Korea is now one of the best Asian teams, which means we will be very, very challenged and we have to be very smart in defending. We are going to work on marking and defending as we did during the recent Four Nations tournament (against Canada, Mexico and Jamaica).
’Also against Korea we want to work on attacking a little more...get the ball more wide and get some cross balls in. That will be one of the aspects we we will be working on.’
Pellerud said because of the time difference he will do the majority of his preparation work in Trinidad and have just light sessions in South Korea. He expects that many of his players will be shocked by the effect of the time difference on their bodies. He expects that several of them will wake up at night and be confused, but said it is all part of the learning experience for the youngsters.
’We have 15 local-based and seven of the foreign-based players, which is a nice mix. As always, there are a number of players that cannot attend because of school commitments, which is always unfortunate because we need all players,’ he said.
’There are some top players who could have done a good job for us in the Four Nations and could have done a job for us in Korea as well, but they are in a very challenging student environment. Because of the situation we will have to give exposure to some of the other players who at the moment may not be starters.’
Pellerud added that he expects further development from his players following the tour to South Korea. He said they had already made a good showing at the Four Nations tournament held in Trinidad earlier this month when they drew 1-1 with Canada and lost a close match 2-0 to Mexico.
Following that tournament, Canada went on to win the CONCACAF Championship when they edged Mexico 1-0 in the final in Costa Rica.
’I’m pretty sure the confidence in this group grew after the Four Nations, and that is a very positive thing for us because there were a lot of question marks before. There are still question marks, because that was only some games. We need now to be consistent defending as a team and do as well as we did in all those three games. Also, we are very aware that we need to attack better and to possess the ball better in midfield and to have more creative passing. That is the main consideration on my part right now.
’We are small and not very athletic, but we can compensate by being very fit...and we are. That is going to be one of the forces of this team. And although we are a bit below the best teams in terms of controlling the ball and passing the ball, that will be one of the major aspects we will be working on for the next several months until the World Cup.’
T&T SQUAD FOR SOUTH KOREA:
Keri Myers (GK), Linfah Jones (GK), Camille Borneo (Defender), Khadisha Debesette (Defender), Rehana Omardeen (Defender), Shante Helwig (Defender), Tineisha Cobham (Defender), Annette Mims (Defender), Patrice Vincent (Defender), Khadidra Debesette (Midfielder), Camille Charles (Midfielder), Victoria Swift (Midfielder), Nia Walcott (Midfielder), Jessica De Leon (Midfielder), Kayla Taylor (Midfielder), Nykosi Simmons (Midfielder), Amira Walcott (Midfielder), Diarra Simmons (Midfielder), Jo Marie Lewis (Midfielder), Brianna Ryce (Midfielder), Kedisha Castillo (Forward), Anique Walker (Forward)
Staff: Even Pellerud (Head Coach), Richard Hood (Assistant Coach), Jinelle James (Team Manager), Ricarda Nelson (Assistant Manager), Nicole Kistow (Physio), Chris Bailey (Trainer), Marius Rovde (Goalkeeping Coach), Glennon Foncette (Assistant Goalkeeping Coach).