Nigel Simon
Norway-based Kenny ‘YaYa’ Cordner netted a second-half double after an opening goal from Kayla Taylor saw T&T Women ended their Caribbean Football Union Final Round Qualifiers to the CONCACAF Final Round on a high after a 3-0 victory over Bermuda in Kingston, Jamaica, yesterday.
Following’s Friday shock 4-1 loss to Jamaica after lead 1-0 deep into the second-half at Independence Park (National Stadium), the ‘Women Warriors’ were eager to end on a positive note and got off to a great start when Taylor scored for the fourth straight match, and her tournament-high seventh goal in the 12th minute.
However, the Soca Princesses without injured captain Tasha St Louis in the line-up struggled to add to their tally and only had the one goal to show at the half.
Twelve minutes after the restart, Cordner doubled the lead and three minutes from full-time she added another to end with three goals in as many matches after missing’s T&T opener, a 3-2 win over Cuba, in which Taylor netted a hat-trick.
The win lifted the Anton Corneal-coached team to nine points from four matches, level with Jamaica which came up against third-placed Cuba (six points) in last night’s second encounter.
Despite being dethroned as CFU champions, and suffering its heaviest defeat to a regional rival, T&T is assured of qualification to the eight-team CONCACAF Final Round along with Jamaica and Cuba where they will join the trio of the USA, Canada and Mexico, the top three ranked teams in Concacaf who were automatic qualifiers to the final round of eight-teams as well as Central American duo, Costa Rica and Panama.
USA will welcome the region’s top women’s national teams for the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, which will crown a regional champion and qualify three teams directly for the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, plus the fourth-place finisher to an Inter-Continental Playoff.
The Concacaf Women’s Championship is scheduled to be played October 4-17, 2018 in Texas.
Current standings
Teams*P*W*D*L*GF*GA*Pts
1. Jamaica*3*3*0*0*17*1*9
2. T&T*4*3*0*1*12*6*9
3. Cuba*3*2*0*1*11*3*6
4. Bermuda*4*1*0*3*5*9*3
5. Antigua & Barbuda*4*0*0*4*0*26*0