Women Warriors aim to stay unbeaten in World Cup qualifying

THE TRINIDAD and Tobago women’s senior footballers will aim to make it three wins on the trot when they tackle Turks and Caicos in round three of the Concacaf Women’s Championship qualification tournament, on Saturday, from 3.30 pm.

The match will be played at the TCIFA National Academy in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.

TT won their opening two matches in Group F with victories over Nicaragua and Dominica.

At the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo on February 17, TT defeated Nicaragua 2-1.

Asha James opened the scoring for TT in the 17th minute. TT were reduced to ten players in the 44th minute when Kedie Johnson was sent off after getting a second yellow card.

Despite being a player short, TT captain Karyn Forbes doubled the home team’s advantage with a 64th minute strike.

Yessenia Del Socorro Flores Rivas pulled a goal back in stoppage time, but it was too late.

Three days later, TT got past Dominica 2-0 in Guyana with goals from James (31st) and Maria-Frances Serrant (58th).

Guyana are only ahead of TT at the top of Group F because of goal difference. After press time on Friday, Guyana played Nicaragua.

On Tuesday, TT will play Guyana at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, from 6 pm.

TT defender Victoria Swift is anticipating the matches against Turks and Caicos and Guyana.

“I am excited to see us play together as a group. I think we have gotten stronger from the first time we started training last year to now and we have that camaraderie as well,” Swift said.

Swift sees herself as one of the leaders in the team.

“For me it is just basically practising my leadership skills especially in the back of the field, motivating my teammates on and off the field and just winning my personal battles on the field.”

Only the first placed team in Group F will advance to the next round of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

The World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand.

TT will be the favourite heading into Saturday’s match as Turks and Caicos have conceded a whopping 34 goals in three matches.

Turks and Caicos fell 7-0 to Guyana, 19-0 to Nicaragua and 8-1 to Dominica.

Earlier this week, TT coach Kenwyne Jones was confident in his team’s chances.

“I’m expecting them to win the matches. I believe in the talent of the group; I believe in the talent of the individual players,” Jones said.

“I know they are going to give 100 per cent; I know they are going to fight to the end and we just have to make sure that we keep things simple and we play to our strengths and I think we’ll be good going into the games coming forward.”