TT Under-17 women to play for pride as World Cup dreams end

THE Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 women's footballers will play for pride in their final group match of the 2025 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Qualifiers.

TT fell 4-0 to El Salvador at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, on April 2. The result meant that TT's chances of qualifying for the 2025 Under-17 World Cup are now over. TT needed to win their group or finish as the best second-placed team. TT are playing in Group C alongside the US, El Salvador and Honduras.

After losing 3-0 to the US in their opener on March 31, TT cannot finish in the top two in Group C.

Just as they did against the US, TT held El Salvador goalless in the first half.

The El Salvador attack found gaps in the TT defence in the second half. Abigail Salgado broke the deadlock in the 58th minute and three minutes later, Maya Buerger made it 2-0.

TT prevented any further damage for the next 25 minutes of play, but two goals from Angie Alvarenga in the 86th and 90th minutes gave El Salvador a resounding 4-0 victory.

Speaking to the media following the match, TT coach Ayanna Russell said, "We have to play for pride. We know what this team can do. This team has a lot of potential. They need to probably sulk a bit tonight and deal with the fact that we can't go to the World Cup, but we are home and we want to come out with a good result on Saturday (April 5). Reflecting on the defeat to El Salvador, Russell said, "I just think we never found a rhythm. We know we could put the ball down and play, but we just never did that so unfortunately the result did not go our way. We have one more, so we recover and prepare for Honduras.

Discussing what TT could have done better against El Salvador, she said, "We were second to every ball, we were never first to the ball. We did not really show enough urgency and the fight that we usually do in the game. At the end of the day, we thought that we would have been victorious today, but again the result did not go our way."

The TT coach is proud of her team's spirit in the tournament and the results are just another hurdle to cross. "The first game you saw a lot of character from them. Every challenge that comes their way they usually overcome it. This game is unfortunate, (but) this is God's plans and I think the team is going to grow from it."

TT will play Honduras on April 5 at 7 pm at Ato Boldon Stadium in their final group match.