Skill and perseverance seemed to have overcome a lack of preparation and money, as Trinidad and Tobago came on the brink of becoming the first Caribbean nation to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup after Mariah Shade scored late in regulation to put them ahead in their CONCACAF Women’s Championship third-place game against Mexico on Sunday.
Yet there was only one problem: This was only the 78th minute of the at least 90-minute match at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. Fifty-five seconds after the goal put Trinidad and Tobago up 2-1, Mexico’s Monica Ocampo tied the score with a forceful header, sending the game toward overtime. Veronica Charlyn Corral then delivered decisive goals in the 104th and 106th minutes to win the game for Mexico.
As the third-place finishers in the CONCACAF — the North American, Central American and Caribbean region — Mexico qualified for the 2015 World Cup in Canada, where the field will expand from 16 to 24 teams. The US and Costa Rica qualified before the US side defeated the Ticas 6-0 in Sunday’s championship final after four goals and an assist by Abby Wambach.
Photo: AFP
Trinidad and Tobago, inexperienced and exhausted after playing 30 minutes of overtime twice in 48 hours, now face a two-leg playoff against Ecuador, the third-place finishers from South America — An arduous and elusive journey toward the World Cup continues.
Little time was afforded the Soca Princesses for training before this tournament and their conditioning lagged. On Oct. 8, shortly after the players arrived for their final preparations in Dallas, Texas, coach Randy Waldrum sent out a financial SOS on Twitter.
“I need HELP!” wrote Waldrum, who works for free. “T&T [Trinida and Tobago] sent a team here last night with [US]$500 total. No equipment such as balls, no transportation from airport to hotel, nothing.”
Photo: AFP
Waldrum, an American who coached Notre Dame to two women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association titles and now coaches the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), continued: “I have to help these players somehow. They deserve better.”
Help arrived quickly in terms of donations from a number of benefactors. Trinidad and Tobago’s story illustrates the generosity extended by many in the international soccer community, but less encouragingly, it also demonstrates that the treatment of women’s soccer lags far behind men’s soccer in a vast majority of nations.
“When you look at the US women, you see how far we’ve come and when you look at Trinidad and Tobago’s team, you see how far we have to go,” said Jen Cooper of Houston, who operates the Web site KeeperNotes.com, which raised US$17,000 in donations for the Soca Princesses.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association has long been mired in scandal and debt. Its disgraced former leader, Jack Warner, resigned in 2011 as vice president of FIFA and president of CONCACAF amid a bribery scandal.
Attempts at reform in the federation have not always gone smoothly. The lack of funding for the women’s team became a public embarrassment and federation president Raymond Tim Kee accused Waldrum of an “emotional disturbance,” according to news accounts.
An apology signed in Waldrum’s name, but apparently not written by him, said that his appeal for financial assistance “was not meant to cause any embarrassment” to Trinidad and Tobago soccer officials or the public.
Calculated or not, Waldrum’s public appeal worked. The team received donations from as far away as Poland and Singapore. Sports officials in Trinidad and Tobago pledged US$40,000 to the team and bonuses of about US$8,000 to each player if the Soca Princesses reach the World Cup, Waldrum said.
Upon arriving at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport early this month, players worked a deal with cab drivers to get them to their hotel. Waldrum then sent out his Twitter plea and within eight hours, Cooper raised US$9,500 through her Web site.
Haiti, another women’s team in need, donated US$658, half of what it had in its bank account. (The money was later refunded, Cooper said.) The US Soccer Federation and NWSL sent a check for US$500, the Canadian Soccer Federation donated cold-weather gear and MLS side FC Dallas provided a training facility, proceeds from a women’s exhibition and meals.
Members of a soccer supporters group, the American Outlaws, from Dallas and Fort Worth, loaded three vehicles with water, bananas, sports drinks and snacks. A soccer store in suburban Dallas donated cleats to players with worn-out footwear.
“When one of us is in need, all of us are in need in the soccer community,” said Dana Crane, am American Outlaws member from Fort Worth. “We do what we can to help.”
Waldrum called the outpouring of support “amazing,” saying: “I think we won a lot of hearts with this.”
Once the qualifying tournament began on Oct. 15, CONCACAF covered the housing and travel costs for the eight participating teams.
Twice last weekend, Trinidad and Tobago had chances to reach its first World Cup and came up just short: In Friday’s semi-finals, the Soca Princesses lost a penalty shootout to Costa Rica, before crumbling in added time against Mexico.
Now the Soca Princesses must travel to Quito on Nov. 8. Mexico has offered Trinidad and Tobago a training facility in Mexico City. The return leg is to be played in Trinidad and Tobago on Dec. 2.
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