Two days after the Senior Women Soca Warriors pipped Jamaica in a Caribbean Football Union Olympic qualifier semifinal at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, both teams will face off in an Under-17 semifinal at the Estadio Juan Roman Loubriel, Bayamon, Puerto Rico, from 4.30 pm today.
Tonight’s encounter is a must-win match for the T&T as only the top two teams at the end of the tournament will qualify for the Under-17 Concacaf Women’s finals to be held in St George’s, Grenada, from March 3-13.
On Wednesday night, the Rajesh Latchoo-coached T&T Under-17 women suffered a 4-0 loss to Haiti in their Group B decider in Bayamon. Both T&T and Haiti entered the contest with maximum six points from their first two matches, and were certain of a place in the semifinals.
However, the Haitians who swamped Barbados 13-0 and Dominican Republic 3-0, were in no mood to go under to the T&T squad and got its opener from Neloured Nicolas after only nine minutes. The Haitians then added another in the 26th followed by a third from Malaika Dedier in the 39th for a 3-0 half-time advantage.
In the second half, the Haitians consolidated their victory with a fourth item from Lovelie Pierre to end with maximum nine points, to set up a semifinal clash with Group A runner-up, Cuba, from 7.30 pm tonight. Earlier on, Dominican Republic ended third in the group with a 4-1 defeat of Barbados
For the winners, Minely Ureña and María López neted in quick succession before Caitlin Padmore pulled a goal back for the Bajans in the 25th.
Dominican Republican then restored its two-goal cushion when López was fouled in the penalty-area which was converted by Ana Santos. Lopez added a fourth item four minutes from the final whistle.
In Monday’s 7-1 win over Barbados, Amaya Ellis, Alexis Fortune and Nia Honore scored two goals each for T&T after Natisha John opened the scoring in the fourth minute. Shaunte Carrington was on target for the Barbadians on the hour mark.
Standings
Final Under-17 CFU Women’s standings:
Venue: Estadio Juan Roman Loubriel, Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Group A:
Team P W D L F A Pts
Cuba 2 2 0 0 3 1 6
Jamaica 2 1 1 0 7 3 4
Puerto Rico 2 0 1 1 3 4 1
Bermuda 2 0 0 2 1 6 0
Group B:
Team P W D L F A Pts
Haiti 3 3 0 0 20 0 9
T&T 3 2 0 1 11 6 6
Dom Rep 3 1 0 2 5 8 3
Barbados 3 0 0 3 2 24 0
Remaining fixtures:
Today
Semifinals:
Jamaica vs T&T, 4.30 pm
Haiti vs Cuba, 7.30 pm
Sunday:
Third place, 4.30 pm
Final, 7.30 pm