This country’s senior women footballers will be looking to put at least a point on the board at the Natal International Women’s tournament when they face off with Canada at the Arena das Dunas in Natal at 6.30 pm today.
Interim coach Anthony Creece will be feeling just a wee bit more at ease following the addition of seven regular members to his roster as captain Arin King and six of her teammates were able to fly in from Texas to join the squad for the remainder of the invitational tournament. Creece had just 13 players at his disposal in the opening 11-0 loss to Brazil on Wednesday.
King and company will surely be keen to add some respectability to the T&T outfit and recent run of results, seeking to shake off the 6-0 defeat to the USA on Thursday night. Creece is banking on the additional experience against the Canadians which got off to a winning start against Mexico last week.
“Now after that first experience of the Brazil match, I expect our girls to be more comfortable and ready to face our next opponent on Sunday (today),” Creece said.
“And especially with a more seasoned group arriving from the USA, we should expect a much better performance. It will be good to have our squad strengthened since all the other teams have their full contingents here.”
The players who joined the squad following the match versus the USA in San Antonio, Texas were King, Janine Francois, Mariah Shade, Patrice Superville, Ahkeela Mollon, Khadidra Debesette and Karyn Forbes. They were accompanied by staff members – manager Sharon O’Brien, Benyam Astorga (trainer), Michael Taylor (physio) and Claire George (equipment manager).
Creece added that the Caribbean champions will not back down from the overwhelming challenge in Natal as the preparations for the CONCACAF Final round of Olympic qualifiers next year remains the main focus.
“The exposure to such high level competition can only help our players as we go forward. Our goal is to give ourselves the best opportunity to make the 2016 Olympic tournament.”
“The game versus Brazil was a tough one,” Creece recalls.
“Having to face the host nation and a world powerhouse with a very inexperienced lineup of players was always going to be a tough task. I however commended the players on the fight and effort that they all gave out on the field. They never stopped playing hard and working even with the injuries and all the pressure we were under. Had it not been for their determination it would have been worse.
“However a few of our players were up to their level but just not enough to withstand them. It was a test of where we are and showed us the level of where we should be striving to be.”
The line up versus Brazil was as follows: Tanesha Palmer, Anastasia Prescott, Annalise Cummings, Rinelle Findley, Jinelle Cunningham, Joe Marie Lewis, Melissa Wooling, Afiyah Matthias, Sherain Cummings, Tamara Johnson and Maylee Attin Johnson. Shenelle Henry entered in the 30th and Ami-Joy Daniel entered the match in the 70th minute.
It was reported following Brazil’s win over T&T that Marta became Brazil’s highest ever national team goal scorer. Her five goals in the win took her tally to 98, beating Pele’s 95 goals in the process. Marta Marta also reached another impressive milestone, wearing the number 10 shirt for the 100th time. She will lead Brazil in their second match against Mexico in the first game of the double header today.