‘Best 90’ AS T&T BOWS OUT OF U-17 QUALIFIERS
‘Best 90’ AS T&T BOWS OUT OF U-17 QUALIFIERS
Trinidad and Tobago’s Men U-17 team will return home on Tuesday night following their 3-2 defeat to El Salvador in the knockout phase of the Concacaf Men’s U-17 Championship at the Estavio Pensativo in Antigua, Guatemala on Sunday night.
The defeat was a hard pill to swallow for the Shawn Cooper-coached team as they came back to tie the scores on two occasions to force extra time before defender Michael Ventura shot past goalkeeper Ailan Panton for the winner.
This result followed a 1-1 draw with Barbados and two defeats to Canada (3-2) and United States (3-1). There were two international warm-up games prior the team’s arrival in Guatemala, including two losses to Jamaica
Early into Sunday’s encounter, El Salvador took the game to T&T and opened the scoring on three minutes when Bryan Vasquez rifled into the top corner from the egde of the area following a weak clearance. The Central Americans had the early upper hand and kept pressing for more but T&T remained resilient.
English-born Rio Cardines would make his presence felt when he clinically fired home from inside the box after some neat work by Lindwell Sween for a 1-1 scoreline on 33 minutes.
Panton had to come up big after the break to keep T&T in it. But there was little he could do to deny captain Walter Menjivar who was sent clear on goal and El Salvador were now 2-1 ahead and looking to kill off T&T.
But Cooper’s men didn’t lie down. Substitutes Malachi Webb and Derrel Garcia helped T&T to turn up the tempo. With eight minutes left in regulation, Cardines combined with Garcia after evading two defenders before the latter picked out Webb and he calmly slotted home for the equalizer. This was his second goal of the tournament. T&T went into extra time scenting a possible surge from behind but it was not to be. Ventura had the final saw two minutes into the second period of extra time with a well-taken shot from thirty yards out which left Panton without prayer.
Cooper later told TTFA Media that the game plan was to restrict El Salvador’s assault on the sides of the pitch.
“The game plan was to stop the opposition going down the sides of the field, especially down the right side which I thought they placed more emphasis on We did so for most part but at the end two of their goals came from attacks on that right side where we failed to make good clearances from the dangerous areas.
How did the team execute your game plan?
“I would have us an ‘8’ in terms of execution of the game plan. Although they scored from our left, I thought we dealt and nullified several of their attacks by causing them to play more direct that they would have liked.
Our Best 90 minutes
“It was the best 90 mins we would have played because the other games we only really played in the last 45mins. But the other three games were also finished with a lot of positives.
“Many players rose to the occasion but none more so than Malachi Webb. He changed the game everytime he came on the field of play. We expected Sween and Garcia to influence the game but both players were carrying slight injuries which hindered them from really taking off in the tournament as they wanted. But Garcia still had his moments and assisted as best as he could carrying an ankle injury which he sustained in the US game.
What’s next for the team?
“As normal I hope they (the FA) keep them and not do as normal and disband the team. This is a Group with lots of potential if given a fair chance. This was the least exposed group in terms of preparation, but was one of the best I have seen in terms of effort and heart. I am so proud of them for the way they carried about themselves for this entire journey. The way they represented Trinidad and Tobago, if only they were given a realistic chance with all that is going on with our football at the moment, the results would have been much different, they gained the respect from all the teams that played against them,” Cooper concluded.
Go here for Line Ups and Match Stats
