CHESTER, Pa. — Skill and perseverance seemed to have overcome a lack of preparation and money. Trinidad and Tobago positioned itself to become the first Caribbean nation to qualify for the Women’s World Cup. A goal scored late in regulation Sunday left players jubilantly running and jumping at PPL Park.
Only one problem: This was the 78th minute of a soccer game scheduled for at least 90.
At its most potent, Trinidad and Tobago was also at its most vulnerable. Fifty-five seconds later, Mexico tied the score on a powerful header and won, 4-2 in overtime, when Veronica Charlyn Corral delivered decisive goals in the 104th and 106th minutes.
Mexico, as the third-place finisher in Concacaf — the North American, Central American and Caribbean region — qualified for the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, where the field will expand to 24 teams, from 16.
The United States and Costa Rica had already qualified before the Americans defeated the Ticas, 6-0, in Sunday’s championship match on four goals and an assist by Abby Wambach.
Trinidad and Tobago, inexperienced and exhausted after twice playing 30 minutes of overtime in 48 hours, now faces a home-and-away playoff against Ecuador, the third-place finisher 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. Their conditioning lagged. On Oct. 8, shortly after the players arrived for their final preparations in Dallas, Coach Randy Waldrum sent out a financial S.O.S. on Twitter.
“I need HELP!” wrote Waldrum, who works without a salary. “T&T sent a team here last night with $500 total. No equipment such as balls, no transportation from airport to hotel, nothing.”
Waldrum, an American who coached Notre Dame to two women’s N.C.A.A. titles and now coaches the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League, 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. And, less encouragingly, it 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 U.S. 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 website KeeperNotes.com, which has raised $17,000 in donations for the Soca Princesses.
The soccer federation of Trinidad and Tobago has long been mired in scandal and debt. Its disgraced former leader, Jack Warner, resigned in 2011 amid a bribery scandal as vice president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, and as president of Concacaf, the regional governing body.
Attempts at reform in the Caribbean country’s soccer federation have not always gone smoothly. The lack of funding for the women’s team became a public embarrassment. Raymond Tim Kee, the current president of the federation, accused Waldrum of an “emotional disturbance,” according to news accounts.
An apology written in Waldrum’s name, but apparently not 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 $40,000 to the team and bonuses of about $8,000 to each player if the Soca Princesses reach the World Cup, Waldrum said.
Upon arriving at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in early October, players worked a deal with cabdrivers to get them to their hotel. Waldrum then sent out his Twitter plea. Within eight hours, Cooper raised $9,500 through her website.
Haiti, another women’s team in need, donated $658, half of what it had in its bank account. (The money was later refunded, Cooper said.) The United States soccer federation and N.W.S.L. sent a check for $500. The Canadian soccer federation donated cold-weather gear. F.C. Dallas of Major League Soccer 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, a member of the American Outlaws from Fort Worth who traveled here on vacation time to support Trinidad and Tobago. “We do what we can to help.”
Waldrum called the outpouring of support “amazing” and said, “I think we won a lot of hearts with this.”
Once the qualifying tournament began Oct. 15, Concacaf picked up the housing and travel costs for the eight participating teams. Twice this weekend, Trinidad and Tobago had chances to reach its first Women’s World Cup and came up just short.
In Friday’s semifinals, the Soca Princesses lost a penalty shootout to Costa Rica. On Sunday, Mariah Shade put Trinidad and Tobago up, 2-1, in the 78th minute. Less than a minute later, Mexico’s Monica Ocampo tied the score with a forceful header, sending the game toward overtime.
Waldrum’s players, physically spent, crumbled in added time. Now the Soca Princesses must travel Nov. 8 to Quito, Ecuador’s capital, about 9,300 feet above sea level. Mexico has offered Trinidad and Tobago a training facility in Mexico City, at an altitude of about 7,200 feet. The return leg, according to FIFA, will be played in Trinidad and Tobago on Dec 2.
“I think we can do a lot with this team if we can get the resources and the funding and the things we need to train them properly,” Waldrum said.