American Constantine Konstin has been appointed interim head coach of the T&T Senior Women’s National Team according to a release from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) on Wednesday.
Konstin, who recently led the T&T's Men’s Futsal Team at the 2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championships in May, will now lead the Senior Women’s Team into two friendly internationals versus Panama on 21 and 25 October at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.
In addition to working extensively with Men’s and Women’s Football and Futsal Teams in Portland, Konstin also served as head coach of the Trinidad and Tobago National Women’s U18 Futsal Team at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Argentina in 2018.
Konstin told TTFA Media, “I am extremely honoured to have the opportunity to be part of team T&T again as Women’s National Team interim head coach. I can’t wait to get back to T&T to be working side by side with the players and staff who already have a great foundation in place.”
Normalization Committee Chairman Robert Hadad stated, “Cony (Konstin) has always been committed to T&T football and futsal development and we have been having regular discussions with him on how that may take shape heading into 2022. So when the situation arose with James Thomas’ sudden departure, Cony kindly accepted this caretaker/interim role until November. We will continue to evaluate the options available in preparation for the CONCACAF W Qualifiers in February and April 2022.”
Last week Welshman Thomas, who was hired in April as the team's head coach resigned to pick up the position as Bristol City as their Women and Girls Youth Development Manager. He had previously spent four years within the academy set-up.
The T&T team technical staff which comprises Thomas' assistant Charlie Mitchell (Assistant Coach & Performance Analyst), James Baird (Goalkeeper Coach), Joanne Daniel (Team Manager), Terry Johnson-Jeremiah (Equipment Manager), Atiba Downes (Strength and Conditioning Coach) and Aqilya Gomez (Rehab Specialist) will support Konstin in his new role which will run until 30th November 2021.
For the upcoming CONCACAF W Qualifiers, T&T are in Group F along with Guyana, Nicaragua, Dominica, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The teams will be housed at the Home of Football in a bio-secure environment with the matches being played with the approval of the Ministry of Health.
Both T&T and Panama will be using the exercise as preparations for the start of the CONCACAF W Qualifiers which have been shifted from November to the FIFA Women’s Window of February 2022.
No spectators will be allowed at the upcoming matches which will take place in a bio-secure bubble with both teams being housed at the Home of Football hotel, using the Stadium and Training pitch for all activities.
In the build-up to the encounters, the T&T Women’s Team will enter a residential camp on October 15th.
Panama defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 in Group stage action at the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying championship.