Even with a suspension, several knocks and a fatigued team, head coach Randy Waldrum remains confident that T&T's senior women's footballers can defeat Mexico in the Concacaf Women's Championship third-place playoff today and qualify for next year's Fifa World Cup.T&T and Mexico will at PPL Park, Chester, Pennsylvania, from 3 pm, before USA and Costa Rica challenge the final, from 6 pm.Waldrum was clearly deflated after T&T's (3-0) penalty shoot-out loss to Costa Rica in the first semifinal, on Friday night, but in turning his attention to Mexico, he said the players simply need to play with the same spirit and determination and also follow the game plan in order to get the job done.
Lauren Hutchinson scored T&T's equalising goal in the 73rd minute off a header to cancel Carolina Venegas' 19th minute opener for Costa Rica. Despite a barrage from Costa Rica, T&T kept its opponents at bay for the remainder of regulation time to force extra time. No more goals were scored, but T&T lost a key player in the closing moments of extra time, when centre-back Rhea Belgrave was sent off for a second bookable offense.As a result, she will play no part against Mexico, making Waldrum's selection process that much more challenging when considering his injury woes."In all honesty, I don't think even the players would tell you, or I would tell you that we played particularly well, because I don't think we did. We didn't come out and follow the game plan of what we wanted to do properly. So, I thought it was a game that we never got into a rhythm quite honestly, but having said that, we made some changes at half time, and I thought the second half was much better in terms of the pressure we put on them," he said, addressing the torrid semifinal."I don't think we ever really played creative or attractive football. I think it was just a lot of heart and pride...It was hard after the game, after we put so much into it to lose the way we did in penalties. I think that's always tough," he lamented.
But in turning his attention to the team's second of three chances to become the first team from the Caribbean to qualify for a Women's World Cup, Waldrum said: "The challenge today is to get them refocused and get them re-energised again and get them ready for Mexico tomorrow (today).""I think Mexico has always got the experience and they've always done well in Concacaf, but this is a different mexico team...They are a bit younger in some positions with some newer players. I dont think it's the same team that it has been in the past; (not) quite as strong. I thought between Costa Rica and Mexico, Costa Rica was the better of the two teams. You know, I think game that's still a win-able game."
Mexico advanced to the semifinal stage after finishing second in its group to Costa Rica. Costa Rica and Mexico met in their first Group B match with the latter taking a 1-0 win. Mexico then defeated Martinique 10-0 and Jamaica, 3-1."I think we can still get it done tomorrow. I think its really down to our approach, if we mentally believe it and mentally prepare to go battle tomorrow (today).""If we come out a bit flat and a bit slow as we did against Costa Rica, then its going to be another long day for us. So you know we have a bit of a challenge. We have to replace Rhea (Belgrave) with the red card, in centre back. You know we still have a bit of injuries. We still won't be at full strength," he said.While the winner of the third-place playoff automatically advances to next year's World Cup in Canada, the fourth place finisher will be given a third and final chance to qualify via an intercontinental playoff with Ecuador, later this year.