T&T's Women Soca Warriors must beat Guyana in their final Group B match of the 2016 Concacaf Women's Olympic Qualifiers at the BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas from 5pm tonight in order to advance to the semifinal round.
Going into tonight's final round of group matches, two-time Olympic Games qualifiers and London 2012 bronze winners, Canada lead the Group B table with maximum six points from its two matches, 5-0 and 6-0 victories over Guyana and T&T respectively, ahead of its final match against Guatemala tonight from 7.30pm.
Guyana and T&T have three points, having registered similar 2-1 wins over Guatemala. However, Guyana has a better goal-difference of minus-four to T&T's minus-five and will qualify ahead of T&T to the semifinals, with a draw. T&T have beaten Guyana in their previous recent meetings, 3-0 at home in May 2010 and 4-1 in November 2010, during World Cup qualifiers.
Speaking after his team conceded six goals to Canada on Sunday night, T&T coach Richard Hood said: "We do need to win on Tuesday."
"We looked at the Guyana game today (Sunday) and we observed some things that we certainly can exploit and hopefully we can go into that game, create our opportunities and take them and win the game. Our ultimate goal was qualifying for the second round and that is still our goal," Hood added.
Assessing Guyana, Hood said they had some good technical players. "At the same time, they are not overly athletic and I observed some weaknessess and we will exploit them and hopefully get the result we need."
On the loss to Canada, Hood said: "Obviously, it was a disappointing result and not the one we had hoped for. I have to give Canada a lot of credit. They are a very strong tactical team and they did well. We had our plans and I think it worked for a while but we weren't able to carry it on to the best of our abilities." Last night, Group A play concluded with a double-header between Mexico and Costa Rica for second spot, followed by world champions USA versus Puerto Rico.
STANDINGS
Group A
Teams P W D L F A Pts
USA 2 2 0 0 6 0 6
Mexico 2 1 0 1 6 1 3
Costa Rica 2 1 0 1 9 5 3
Puerto Rico 2 0 0 2 0 15 0
Group B
Canada 2 2 0 0 11 0 6
Guyana 2 1 0 1 2 6 3
T&T 2 1 0 1 2 7 3
Guatemala 2 0 0 2 2 4 0