T&T Women go down to Jamaica

T&T Women go down to Jamaica in Friendly

Trinidad and Tobago women’s football team co-coach Damian Briggs is taking the positives from his team’s 4-1 loss to Jamaica in a friendlu at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Balmain, Couva on October 28 – assuring it’s a stepping stone for the upcoming Concacaf Women’s Qualifiers and beyond.

Playing their first game after being inactive for more than a year, the T&T women finally got their competitive juices flowing and were tied 1-1 with the “Reggae Girlz” at the half after Pleasantville Secondary standout Nikita Gosine cancelled out Jody Brown’s 11th-minute opener with a delightful strike in the 13th minute.

Brown gave the visitors the early lead with a tidy finish after being played in with a through pass down the right, but the hosts quickly responded when Gosine showed her neat feet outside the area to send Tiffany Cameron the wrong way before curling a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Sydney Schneider and into the top corner.

The sterling strike from the Secondary Schools Football League’s Girls’ Player of the Year for 2024 would have given Briggs and fellow T&T coach Densill Theobald some encouragement. However, they and the 535 supporters in attendance had nothing further to cheer from a goal-scoring standpoint for T&T, as Jamaica scored three unanswered goals in the second half, with Brown getting a fortuitous second in the dying moments of the match.

Captain Kennya Cordner apart, the hosts’ starting XI featured players such as defenders Chrissy Mitchell and Victoria Swift, combative midfielder Naomie Guerra, tricky Defence Force flanker Aaliyah Prince and the overseas-based pair of Kedie Johnson and Maria-Frances Serrant.

“We started the game well and the energy levels were high and we had a go. It was really encouraging to see the players work towards the game plan we had and adjusting when we needed to,” Briggs said, at the post-match presser. “Like I just said to them, ‘don’t let this result define who we are.’ We know what we have to do. We know we’re in a rebuilding phase. We’ve got to take the good bits out of here and also the bits that weren’t too good, and work on it and go again.”

he next item on the agenda for the TT women is their Concacaf Women’s qualifier away to Barbados on November 30 – the first game of their qualifying campaign towards the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Brazil. TT have been placed in group F for the qualifiers, with their next two group matches to be played away to Honduras on March 4, 2026 and home against El Salvador on April 17. From the qualifiers, the six group winners will advance to the 2026 Concacaf Women’s Championship, where they will join Canada and the US in an eight-team tourney. The Concacaf Women’s Championship will serve as the region’s qualifier for the 2027 World Cup as well as 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“It’s just about constantly improving and working on what we decide the type of football we want to play,” Briggs said.

“As I said before, we want to play football that’s attractive and has high levels of energy and we know where we’re at now and we know what we need to add. Hopefully, come Barbados, we’ll be fully in one swing from a conditioning and footballing perspective as well.”

Briggs said TT showed good poise and bravery at times in, and out of possession, while he said they also picked their moments to attack the Jamaicans. However, because of the inactivity of the majority of his squad, he said the team’s fitness – or lack thereof – definitely took its toll as the game wore on, with the visitors being able to flex their authority.

The second goal for the Reggae Girlz came in the 52nd minute when Natasha Thomas slammed in a right-footed shot from close range after Kayla McKenna expertly laid off a right-side cross from Cameron. Jamaica’s third goal came in the 67th minute when debutant Tianna Harris headed a right-side corner past goalkeeper Nicolette Craig, with the team’s fourth and Brown’s second coming in the 84th minute when a spectacular goal-line clearance by Swift bounced off the Reggae Girlz forward and cruelly settled in the net.

“This game was an exercise for us to know exactly where we are. We’re going to sit as a staff and evaluate where we’re at,” Briggs said, pointing out that he and his staff will be doing all they can to add quality and depth to a squad that largely featured locally based players. “We’re trying to put together a structure that’s going to carry us way beyond just this World Cup qualifying campaign.”

One game into his tenure, Briggs said he loves and appreciates the fight from his charges.

“I learned we have heart. Everyone gave 100 per cent. It was really good to see some of the younger players blending in with some of the older players. And they gave a good account of themselves. It was good to see the older players guiding and helping some of those younger players. In terms of that cohesiveness, it was good to see…overall, I’m really, really happy and the staff will know we’re really happy with the performance.”

TT starting XI: Nicolette Craig; Chrissy Mitchell, Shaunalee Govia, Victoria Swift, Kedi Johnson; Naomie Guerra, Nikita Gosine, Maria-Frances Serrant; Aaliyah Prince, Kennya Cordner (c), Tyeisha Griffith.