T&T’S "Soca Princesses" will go into their final round-robin match against USA today in Group A needing nothing less than a draw to reach the semifinals of the Concacaf Under-17 Women’s Championship carded for Thursday.
The T&T and USA match, the second of a double-header at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya kicks off at 7pm, and will be preceded by a clash between Costa Rica and El Salvador two hours earlier.
However, the "Soca Princesses" with four points after two matches could still advance to the last four of the competition without even kicking a ball, should El Salvador (pointless) manage to deny Costa Rica (one point) a much needed win.
For Costa Rica to secure a semifinal spot ahead of T&T it must beat El Salvador and hope the USA hands T&T a sound licking.
As it stands, the USA with maximum six points from two matches a healthy goal-difference of plus-10 is the only team from Group A to secure its semifinal passage, joining Group B qualifiers, Mexico (six points) and Canada (six points) who squared off last night to decide the winners of the group at the Dwight Yorke Stadium,Bacolet, Tobago.
The Mexicans due to their superior goal-difference only needed a draw to top the table.
Jamaica and Puerto Rico both without a point clashed in the first match in Tobago.
The top two teams in each group will meet in cross-over semifinals on Thursday at Macoya from 5pm, with the winners facing off in Sunday’s final at the same venue.
Both finalist will also qualify for the Fifa Under-17 Women’s Final in New Zealand later this year while the winner of the third placed match will also qualify for the Finals.
Teams that have already qualified for the Finals includes host New Zealand (Ocenia), Korea DPR, Japan and Korea Republic (Asia), Nigeria, Cameroon/Ghana (Africa), Colombia, Paraguay, Brazil (South America) and France, England, Denmark and Germany (Europe).
