Trinidad and Tobago under-17 women’s football team coach Ayana Russell said her charges are eagerly looking forward to the final round of 2025 Fifa Under-17 Women’s qualifiers where this country will host one of the groups from March 31-April 5 at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Balmain, Couva.
In the final round of the Concacaf qualifiers in group C, TT will tackle powerhouse team USA on March 31, before playing El Salvador on April 2 and then Honduras on April 5. All matches are currently scheduled to kick off at 7 pm. In this final round, the three group winners will advance to the October 17 to November 8 Under-17 World Cup in Morocco, with the best second-placed team also advancing to the prestigious global tournament.
Despite being drawn against a US outfit that finished third at the 2024 Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup and a Honduras team that defeated TT in the first round of qualifying, Russell said her team is fully embracing the challenge.
“These are the teams we want to play against in order to see where we’re really at,” Russell told Newsday, in an interview on March 1. “A couple years ago, Caribbean teams were beating us and we weren’t even able to get the opportunity to reach this stage. Any group we would have been placed in would have been a tough task.”
Though TT will begin their campaign with what is expected to be a tough examination against the US, Russell said there will be no added pressure on her team to deliver.
“This is what we want. This is what the girls have been working for. Playing the US at any level is tough. At the end of the day...they know the task at hand and it’s just about focusing on where we’re at and focusing on coming up with the best game plan to play the US.”
As many as ten players from TT’s under-17 squad that featured in the first round of Concacaf qualifying in Couva from January 27-31 were picked for the under-20 team that played in the first round of the under-20 World Cup qualifiers from February 21-25.
TT’s under-20 campaign started brightly when star forward Orielle Martin scored a brace in a 3-0 victory over Bermuda, but it ended on a disastrous note as the hosts were dumped from the competition when Canada hammered them 12-0 in what was a must-win match.
With the under-17s resuming training in Couva on March 1, Russell was asked if anything was done to lift the morale of the team and reassure them ahead of the final round of qualifiers. Russell said it was important for the girls to understand that their footballing journey and the technical staff’s long-term vision for the team had only just begun.
“We had our individual and team reflections and then when we meet again as a group we’ll probably do some work with the mental coaches.
“That group, within those (ten girls), for the most part, everybody could play in the next under-20 cycle,” she said.
“It’s just about getting them to trust the process. The likes of Canada at under-20 level, most of those young girls are already playing at a very high competitive level.
“That’s where we’re trying
