A second string T&T Women Soca Warriors squad suffered an 11-0 defeat to Brazil in their opening matchof the 2015 International Tournament of Natal at Arenas das Dunas in Brazil on Wednesday night.
With most of T&T first team players in the USA for last night’s friendly against that country in San Antonio, Texas, the Brazilians led by star player Marta took full advantage of the inexperieneced T&T women’s team which was led by Maylee Attin-Johnson.
Marta led the onslaught with five goals, in the 10th, 28th, 30th, 52nd and 58th, while Beatriz added three in the 33rd, 55th and 64th as they led 4-0 at the half-time whistle. The trio of Debinha (48th), Raquel (70th) and Rilany (79th) got the others for the “Samba Girls”, winners of the tournament in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Speaking after the match T&T assistant coach Anthony Creece said, “We knew it was going to be very tough for us in the first game.”
“Brazil came out strongly and they never allowed us to settle. Our players were eager to do well, but Brazil, at home, proved to be just too much and they dominated the game in large parts.
“We just have to pick ourselves up and get ready for the next game against Canada,” Creece added.
“I think it would be a valuable experience for a lot of the players on this team and hopefully they can come back strongly. No player likes to go down this heavily. We didn’t have much on the bench neither but we’ll lick our wounds and come back for the next game looking to make improvements.
“The bigger picture is obviously the Olympic qualifiers next year and the players here in Natal will be looking to keep building towards getting selected and doing well in the competition next year,” he added.
T&T’s next game will be against Canada on Sunday evening at the Arena das Dunas and prior to that match, they will be joined by head coach Randy Waldrum, the rest of the technical staff and 12 players inclusive of Khadidra Debesette, Karyn Forbes, Kamika Forbes, Janine Francois, Lauryn Hutchinson, Janice Johnson, Ahkeela Mollon, Arin King, Brianna Ryce, Mariah Shade, Patrice Superville and Victoria Swift, all of whom were in the team to face USA in San Antonio, Texas,last night.
In Wednesday’s first match, 2010 winners Canada also started on a winning note, stopping Mexico 3-0 with captain Christine St Clair netting a double, which put her one goal away from tying Mia Hamm (158) as the second all-time scorer in women’s soccer, behind USA’s Abby Wambach (184).
Remaining fixtures
Sunday:
Mexico vs Brazil, 5 pm
T&T vs Canada, 7.30 pm
Wednesday:
T&T vs Mexico, 7.15 pm
Brazil vs Canada, 9.45 pm
December 20:
Third place match, 5 pm
Final, 7.30 pm