T&T's women's footballers will have an uphill task of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, as the eight teams of 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship prepare for battle, October 4-17.
Yesterday the Soca Princesses were drawn in Group A alongside giants United States (USA), Mexico and Panama, whom the T&T women drew and lost to a few months ago.
The groups and match-ups were set during the Final Draw which took place yesterday morning in Miami, USA.
Group B features Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Cuba and the top three teams from the tournament will qualify for the World Cup.
The tournament features eight countries divided into two groups of four with each group’s top two finishers after round-robin play advancing to the semifinals. The winners of the semifinal matches and the third-place match will qualify directly to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The fourth-place finisher will earn a spot in a two-game playoff against Argentina, which was the third-place team from South America, for a final berth to France.
The top two finishers in each group will cross-over to play the second-place finishers in the other group during the semifinals, which will take place on Oct. 14. The third-place match and championship will be held on Oct. 17.
The T&T women will begin their campaign against Panama, 5 pm on October 4 in Sahlen’s Stadium, Cary, N.C. before taking on Mexico three days later (October 7) at the same venue. The Women will complete the group stage against the powerful Americans on October 10.
The United States, Canada and Mexico received automatic berths into the CONCACAF Women's Championship, while Costa Rica and Panama emerged from the Central American qualifying tournament and T&T, Jamaica and Cuba earned their berths at the Caribbean qualifying tournament.
FOX Sports, the home of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, will show the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship across the FOX Sports family of networks. For viewers on the go, matches can be streamed live via FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.