Shabazz wary of ‘well-organised’ Dominica team

JAMAAL SHABAZZ, coach of the Trinidad and Tobago women’s football team, is setting his sights on today’s Group C clash against Dominica at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, as the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship qualification continues.

On Saturday, the TT team opened their campaign with a 10-0 rout of the US Virgin Islands. Striker Mariah Shade netted a beaver-trick (35th, 40th, 81st and 90th minutes) and there was a goal apiece from Patrice Superville (15th), Karyn Forbes (37th), captain Tasha St Louis (39th), Jenelle Cunningham (45th), Kedie Johnson (60th) and a Katelyn Wiater own goal (73rd).

In the first of back-to-back matches on Saturday, St Kitts/Nevis got a double from Brittney Lawrence (eighth and 11th) as they edged Dominica 2-1.

In the post-game media conference, Shabazz said, “To me, women’s football in the Caribbean I can see how it has improved. Everybody expects us to win and make big figures, but eight years ago these teams could not pass the ball. Look at Dominica, they showed good tactical ability.”

He continued “We’re seeing the coaches in the Caribbean, in women’s football, have done some work and I’m proud of them. We cannot look at the end of the tournament, now we think about (next) game against Dominica, against a well-organised team. Maybe not as technically sound as us (but) strong enough.”

Reflecting on their rout of USVI, Shabazz said, “The USVI, for the first 20 minutes, were very much in it. I felt satisfied that our girls showed patience (and) eventually we opened the doors.”

Asked what he was pleased about, Shabazz replied, “That we were able to get some goals in. We tried playing differently (with a 3-5-2 formation). We think that most of the teams will sit back. We tried to be more forward-thinking and eventually it succeeded.”

St Louis, 34 years old, was the first player taken off by Shabazz in the 65th minute.

“When I came in to this set-up in August, I never expected that Tasha would still be playing such a big role,” said the TT coach. “We didn’t get the kind of commitment from the U-20s and the pool is not very deep. She has a lot of minutes to play and we have to save her from herself.”

Shabazz revealed the parents of the national Under-20 players are prioritising overseas scholarships rather than the national programme.

“We have more Under-17s committed to playing with the senior squad,” Shabazz said. “The pool is not very wide. Right now we’re trying to persuade Maylee Attin-Johnson and Ahkeela Mollon (who are both beginning their coaching careers) to come back on the pitch.”

Two of the more seasoned players, Shade and Belgrave (returning from a lengthy injury) earned praises from the TT coach, as well as central midfielder Forbes, who he labelled as a future national captain.

“She’s certainly matured into a future captain,” said Shabazz.

Referring to her outstanding goal, to put TT 3-nil up, he said, “At a time when we were not looking like we were breaking them down, she came forward and scored a brilliant one out of the hat.”