The 20 players selected for the “Women Soca Warriors” squad to face Ecuador tomorrow, will be announced publicly this morning, a day before the all important second leg Fifa Women’s World Cup qualifier.
The squad was originally expected to be announced some time between Friday night and Saturday morning, but this was delayed to allow assistant coaches, Ben Waldrum and John Dewitt a further look at the squad. Both arrived in the country on Saturday night.
The 22 players, who were named to train for the fixture over a week ago, conducted their final preparation session at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, yesterday. The T&T players, along with the Ecuador team returns to the match venue today for one hour each, as stipulated by Fifa.
Ecuador’s players and technical staff members arrived in Trinidad on Saturday afternoon. Both will attempt to seal their first ever qualification for the Fifa Women’s World Cup. The first leg finished goalless early last month in Quito, setting up a second leg thriller in Port-of-Spain.
Due to the away goal rule, Ecuador will advance with a win or a draw by any result, apart from a goalless one. On the other end, T&T will need to win in regulation time, extra time, or on a penalty shoot-out, if the match again ends goalless.
Ecuador arrived in T&T on Saturday and enjoyed two training sessions. Ecuador captain Ligia Moreira said the team approach would be to try to manage the game and control the ball, “because we know that they will go with everything to attack”.
The first leg in Quito, Ecuador, which ended goalless meant T&T would have to score in Port-of-Spain in order to qualify for Canada, but any draw other than a goalless result or a win for Ecuador, would put the South Americans through to their inaugural appearance on the big stage.
“We have analyzed all possible scenarios and one of them is criminal, the end of the game and 0-0 overtime,” said Vanessa Arauz, Ecuadorian coach, who insisted that her team must remain calm, but capitalise on all opportunities to score. She has mentioned, that set pieces and penalties can be crucial to the fixture and has put particular emphasis on such plays.
“We know the physical potential they have,” she cautioned.
Tickets still available
According to TTFA director of communications, Shaun Fuentes, between 12,000-14,000 tickets have been purchased. Some venues have sold out since tickets went on sale, last week, but have been replenished. They are priced at $100 (uncovered) and $200 (covered). Children under the age of 12 are free but must walk with a ticket which is available at Kenny’s Sports Centre and The Fan Club. Two can be claimed with the purchase of one adult ticket. Tickets are also available at All Out Restaurant, Heritage Sports in Scarborough, Ramsingh’s in Couva, Econo Supermarket in Sangre Grande and the Southern Football Association in Skinner Park, San Fernando.