Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-17 women hardly had the luck of the draw at the Hyatt Regency on Wednesday night, as they were pooled in Group A, along with defending champions Korea DPR, better known as North Korea.
T&T were the first team drawn in Group A at the Wrightson Road, Port of Spain hotel, and will face Chile on opening night, September 5, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, before tackling African number one side, Nigeria, and the Koreans, in the preliminary stage of the competition.
Group B is also very interesting, with Asian champions Korea Republic facing Mexico, the third African qualifying team, Tunisia, and the third UEFA (European) qualifier, which has not yet been decided.
New Zealand, hosts of the maiden installment of the competition in 2008, have been drawn in what is perhaps the softest group of the four on paper, Group C, which also includes Venezuela, Japan and the seeded first place UEFA team.
Brazil have been drawn in another interesting group that also includes Ghana, Canada and the second place UEFA qualifier.
The draw was overseen by former Swiss woman footballer Tatjana Haenni, head of FIFA’s Department of Women’s Football, along with tournament chairman Franz Beckenbauer.
National sporting standouts, hockey’s Stacey Siu Butt, shot putter Cleopatra Borel-Brown and boxer Ria Ramnarine, along with ex-German defender Steffi Jones, assisted with the draw for the 16 teams into four pools.
While T&T head coach, Norwegian Even Pellerud, set a target of getting out of a ’tough’ group and into the knockout phase of the tournament, Chile coach Ronnie Radonich was pleased with their group.
’This is a great group for us, and I hope that we can make the most of the tournament as a learning experience,’ Radonich said with the aid of an interpreter.
’This is a very high level of football. Korea DPR will be very tough as they are the defending champions, but we have a good chance. All teams in a World Cup are there for a reason, so we have a chance.’
During the draw there was lots of cultural entertainment. The effervescent Denyse Plummer sang ’Woman is Boss’, Ray Holman and his steelband group jazzed up the night, and the Shiv Shakti Dancers and Malick Folk Performers turned heads as well with their performance of David Rudder’s ’Ganges Meets the Nile’.
In his brief opening address, Jack Warner, special adviser to the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) and FIFA vice president, struck a stirring plea for all involved in the tournament to put their best foot forward.
’This World Cup can only succeed on the collective efforts of all of us,’ Warner stressed.
Beckenbauer, in his turn at the podium, was full of praise for Warner, highlighting his efforts towards staging  the tournament, and for football in general.
’It was not my plan to say this, but it comes from my heart because we are colleagues and I think we are friends, and I’m very proud to have Jack Austin Warner as a friend.’
The former Germany captain was also impressed by the rate of development of global women’s football.
’The women’s football is in an excellent way, you will see in September.’
Delivering the feature speech on the night was permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs Esme Rawlins-Charles, in the absence of Minister Gary Hunt.
She commended FIFA for their support of women’s football, and thanked the TTFF and the coaches for the work they have done in taking the national U-17 women’s team to this stage.
She pointed to the 2006 ’Soca Warriors’, the T&T cricket team at last year’s Airtel Champions League Twenty20 competition, T&T’s Olympic contingent to China 2008, and the 2010 Carifta team with their record-breaking haul earlier this year as examples of national sporting excellence, and backed T&T’s Under-17 women to continue the trend.
’I am confident that the women on the Trinidad and Tobago U-17 squad will continue the trend. It will not be easy, since this tournament will bring together the finest young female footballers in the world.’
Pellerud: T&T have tough draw.
If anyone is aware of the tough task that lies ahead for Trinidad and Tobago at the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup 2010 in T&T in September, it’s coach Even Pellerud.
At Wednesday night’s draw at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, T&T drew defending champions Korea DPR (North Korea), top African side Nigeria and tricky South Americans Chile in Group A.
The Norwegian coach admitted he would have preferred an easier group.
’In all fairness, I think the groups are quite well balanced, they have some good quality. I feel though that Groups A and D are slightly stronger than Groups B and C. I’d hoped for maybe a little bit lighter opposition but that said, we are ready for everyone when it comes to September, and (T&T have) very, very exciting teams to play against.’
Pellerud, who has set his sights on T&T progressing from the Group Stage at home, neatly summed up his team’s Group A opposition.
’North Korea have been a powerhouse in women’s football, senior, Under-20, Under-17, for a number of years now. I know that the North Korea team did not win the last (Asian) qualification, they finished number two.
Hopefully that will mean they are not as strong, (but) I doubt it, I think they will be very strong. Chile has, as has been said here, really grown to be a big team in women’s football.
’Nigeria as we know are always up there as the strongest African team, and to be honest, I’d maybe hoped to avoid Nigeria, and I have to say, strong group, but we are still having the goal of going through (to the knockout stage).’
The local technical director for women’s football conceded he would have preferred to play another African team, or one of the lower UEFA (European) qualifiers. He felt the Asian teams would provide the biggest challenge at the tournament.
Now that his team’s opponents are known, Pellerud’s biggest challenge is having access to his foreign-based players, and getting them to gel with the local-based core squad as a ’whole team’.
Pellerud acknowledged that his team is not quite ready, explaining that they are ’not ready to play 90 minutes’. He is looking forward to the August vacation period to step up preparation for the second World Cup to be held in T&T, after the 2001 boys Under-17 World Cup staged here.
’The job for us now,’ he said, ’is to get opposition for the summer months of June-July-August, to play international friendly games, to play some of these teams in the other groups.’
While Pellerud is preparing for the tough time ahead, T&T captain Camille Borneo is unfazed by the prospect of facing the North Koreans.
’(T&T are) pretty calm. We have been working hard and are confident that we will be able to challenge any team that we play,’ she told the media after the draw.
’(I feel) Normal, confident because we were able to put up a challenge (in our recent friendly trip to South Korea), we have been working hard,’ Borneo pointed out. ’We will just continue working hard, put our best foot forward and play as best as we can.’
The ’Young Soca Princesses’ skipper feels her team can handle the pressure because of the confidence of playing at home. Having never faced African opposition, Borneo is looking forward to T&T’s meeting with Nigeria.
’I think (Nigeria) will be tough. I’m pretty excited to be playing them, a new style of football. We won’t know what to expect.’
GROUPS
Group A: Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Nigeria, Korea DPR
Group B: UEFA 3, Mexico, CAF 3 (Tunisia or South Africa), Korea Republic
Group C: New Zealand, Venezuela, UEFA 1, Japan
Group D: UEFA 2, Brazil, Canada, Ghana
T&T Matches
1 - 05 Sep - 18:00 Hasely Crawford - Trinidad and Tobago v Chile
9 - 08 Sep - 19:00 Mannie Rahmjohn - Trinidad and Tobago v Nigeria
17 - 12 Sep - 18:00 Ato Boldon - Korea DPR v Trinidad and Tobago
T&T draw sets minds racing.
FIFA.COM.
After the Final Draw for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Trinidad and Tobago 2010, held at Hyatt Hotel in Port of Spain on Wednesday 5 May, 12 of the 16 nations slated to participate in the finals this September now know the scale of the task ahead in their quest for places in the knockout rounds. FIFA.com was on hand to gauge the feelings and record the reactions of some coaches and officials.
Group A
This is a great group for us, and I hope that we can make the most of the tournament as a learning experience. This is a very high level of football. Korea DPR will be very tough as they are the defending champions, but we have a good chance. All teams in a World Cup are there for a reason, so we have a chance. Chile Coach Ronnie Radonich
This is a very well-balanced group. We [trinidad and Tobago] are not a women’s football powerhouse and we had to a do a lot of building together as a team. We needed to pull together and get working in the same direction, and I think that is happening now. Our goal will be to get out of the first round. Some of the bigger teams come here hoping to win the title and win every game. We will be happy with some draws and a place in the quarter-finals. Trinidad and Tobago coach Even Pellerud
Group B
I think this is a good draw for my team. Of course all of the teams are strong when you get to a World Cup, and the same can be said for us. Our goal, of course, is to win the title and to help the Korean women’s national team program move forward. Korea Republic coach Duck-Joo Choi
It’s a strong group we have found ourselves in, with some speedy and complicated teams. Now we will focus on getting as strong as we can before kicking off in September. The food and the beaches here in Trinidad will remind us of home, so we are excited to be here. Mexico coach Saul Resendiz
Group C
With so few teams it was always going to be a tough draw, with four hard groups. I think Japan and the UEFA team who we don’t know yet will be the toughest for us. We will do the best we can and our hope is to get through to the quarter-finals, where anything can happen. It is beautiful here in Trinidad and we’re looking forward to our time here. New Zealand coach David Edmondson
It is great for us to have reached our first finals our preparations begin in earnest now. Our aim is to gain experience, and anything beyond that will be great for us. Venezuela coach Keneth Zseremeta
We don’t know too much about our group opponents, but we will go out and try to challenge in every game. In the process, hopefully, we can get more girls in Japan playing football. The environment and the heat in Trinidad will be a challenge for us, but we will be ready. Japan team manager Shizuka Tsuchiya
Group D
This is a nice group for us. We will work very hard and we will be ready for the finals. Our goal is to win the trophy here in Trinidad and Tobago. It is great here in this country – we have similar weather and food and the people are just like Brazilians here. Brazil coach Michel Marcondes da Silva
The build-up to the tournament has been great for us and we are anticipating a tough fight. Every team in this group will have a hard way to go. Reaching the quarter-finals will be our main priority, and if we do that we would have to call our time here a success. If we improve with every game, there’s no telling what can happen. Canada coach Bryan Rosenfeld.