Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic women's team got their Caribbean Football Union qualification campaign for the 2012 Olympics off to a winning start with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Bermuda in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.
T&T got their goals from Janine Francois, Kennya Cordner, Khadidra Debessette, Karyn Forbes and Candace Edwards. Tschana Wade scored the lone goal for Bermuda. The Bermudans trailed 2-1 at half time. T&T then took control with three goals in the second half.
Head coach Richard Hood was pleased with the opening win.
"It's a good win to start off with but the tournament is not over yet. We still have two more games to play and we want to top the group. We will definitely be looking to come away with another impressive victory in our next match," Hood said.
Bermuda head coach Scott Morton added: "I wouldn't say (Trinidad) were too strong for us, but our fitness was definitely a problem. We were more effective in the first half than the second and caused Trinidad some problems.
T&T face Dominica in their second game today and then close off the round against Dominican Republic on Saturday. The winners of the group will advance to the final qualification round while the runners-up will go into a playoff for the third Caribbean qualifying spot.
Meantime, Haiti claimed a place in the finals of CONCACAF Olympic women's qualifying, beating hosts Aruba 8-0 to earn one of the Caribbean's three berths last weekend. Roselord Borgella scored three goals and Wisline Dolce and Roseleine Joseph got a pair each Sunday to lead Haiti, who also drew 1-1 with Cuba and beat Suriname 4-0. Joseph had Haiti's lone goal against Cuba last Friday, while Dolce had the final item against Suriname.
Both Haiti and Cuba finished atop Group A with seven points each, but Haiti advanced with a plus-12 goal difference in their three games. Cuba had a plus-3.
Haiti will be joined by the Group B winners and best runners-up from the two groups at the CONCACAF finals in Vancouver January 19-29.
Two teams will qualify from CONCACAF for next year's Olympic Games in London.