T&T’s Under-17 Women's team will depart for Panama City on Tuesday to play three warm-up matches against that country’s U-17 team from July 23-27.
The T&T Football Association confirmed this yesterday in a release following discussions with the Panama Football Federation. The games will replace three scheduled friendlies between the teams which were originally carded for the TTFA Invitational Tournament. The matches were cancelled due to challenges the Panama team faced in securing a flight to Port-of-Spain this week.
Both teams are preparing for the forthcoming CONCACAF Championships.
T&T coach Stefan Defour was elated when he learnt of the team’s matches in Panama.
“This is good news for us because the girls were looking forward to these two matches and were notably disappointed upon receiving the news that they were cancelled. But this latest news has lifted their spirits and mood again, and we are now looking forward to this trip which will be extremely valuable to our preparations at this time,” Defour said.
TTFA president David John-Williams was also delighted with the new arrangement, saying, “Sometimes things work out in such a way that it turns out better in the long run. We knew these matches for the Under-17 Women’s team were necessary because we wanted to ensure, that just like the boys, they were allowed to get some international match practice. And when we received word from both Curacao and Panama that neither could make it, we had to pursue another avenue.
“We followed through with the discussions and we are pleased to say that our women U-17 team will be off to Panama next week for three matches to help with their preparations.”