TTFF News - T&T Girls gear up for World U20 qualifiers

T&T girls gear up for U20 football qualifiers

 

Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, July 3,2007

 

Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 20 Women’s team captain Alana Lum York believes that her team is progressing at the right pace ahead of their Caribbean Football Union leg of World Cup qualifying games set to kick off here next month.

 

The T&T team, coached by Izler Browne and managed by Ricarda Nelson returned home from Curacao on Monday after coming away victorious in a four-nation warm –up tournament hosted by the Netherlands Antilles.

 

The young girls defeated Aruba 1-0 with Candace Edwards scoring the lone item and then came from a goal down to get the better of Suriname 3-1 in the final on Sunday. Natana Thomas, Karyn Forbes and Moriah Shade were the ones on target in the closing fixture.

 

Lum York, a current Real Dimension member and past student/ player with 2005 Girls Intercol Champions Providence Girls, was not getting carried away by the back to back wins but added that the wins were a boost for her charges.

 

“It was maybe everyone’s first international except for a couple girls because the average age is 17.  But we have been working hard for the past few months and it showed up in the tournament because we were able to run past those girls. Even in the final when we were down 1-0 early on but we showed good character to come back and win the game,” Lum York told TTFF Media.

 

She recalled the pre-match jitters for the players before their first international away from home.

 

“We were all very nervous but also anxious for the first game. The anthem as well as a significant moment. We have a wonderful coaching staff and they have worked really well with us. They are always behind us. I think we have done well so far but we still have work to do to get ourselves really up for the challenges ahead,” Lum York added.

 

Nelson, a past national player appeared excited about the future prospects for the team.

 

“Some of these girls can go straight into the senior team set up. We have one player in particular Avanell Isaacs who can start training with the senior team at this stage. She comes from Moruga and was with us before at a young age but didn’t make the first team. She disappeared from the scene for a while but she’s back again and she was a standout in Curacao.. We have some girls here who can definitely move on to the next level. We saw weaknesses and strengths to build on in those two matches. The girls all  have a good attitude towards hard and a lot of heart so it’s just a matter of continuing the preparations towards the tournament in August and beyond.

 

T&T will host the CFU first round group at the Marvin Lee Stadium on August 5, 7 and 9 with US Virgin Islands/British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic and Grenada contesting for the one place available in the CONCACA Final round. The one winner from that group along with two other CFU group winners will join Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua and United States in the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Final Round, with venue and dates to be announced in due course, from which the top three nations will advance to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Chile in 2008.

 

T&T U20 Women’s Team: Kenya Charles, Patrice Bideshi, Jerneil Nivet, Crystal Sobers, Avanell Isaac, Denisha O’Brien, Chrystal-Anne Taylor-Lewis, Annalis Cummings, Kelly-May Christopher, Natana James, Avalon White, Bianca Walker, Moriah Shade, Julienn McDougall, Karyn Forbes, Candace Edwards,Chanelle Young, Alana Lum York. Ricarda Nelson (manager), Izler Browne (head coach), Corbin Cooper (assistant coach) and Dave Isaac (physio/trainer).