T&T Stays up in League A with Win over Cuba
T&T Stays up in League A with Win over Cuba
Trinidad and Tobago caretaker coach Derek King said the hunger and his team’s desire to stay in Concacaf Nations League A inspired them to their crucial 3-1 victory over Cuba at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago on October 14.
In fifth spot on the six-team table before kickoff in the group B matchup, T&T needed a win to avoid relegation to League B. The Soca Warriors got exactly that, as goals by Dantaye Gilbert, Joevin Jones and substitute Real Gill propelled them to victory over Cuba – relegating their opponents and French Guiana to League B in the process.
Trinidad and Tobago finished the group in fourth on five points, with Jamaica (eight points) and Honduras (seven points) advancing to the Nations League quarterfinals after finishing first and second respectively.
“It’s a great feeling for us to maintain (our spot at the Nations League) A level. What we saw, especially in the first half, we saw a team that was hungry and a team that really wanted these three points,” King said, at the post-match briefing following the match before an estimated 4,000 crowd.
“We went out there and we played some good football. In the first half alone, we could have at least been 5-0 up.”
The visitors had a bright start to the contest, but TT quickly took control of the game with their incisive attacking play, with Gilbert, forward Nathaniel James and Jones, who had been recalled for this window after a 15-month hiatus, running Cuba ragged.
TT took the lead in the 13th minute as the 19-year-old Gilbert, who’s attached to Jong PSV in Holland, scored with a cheeky dink over goalkeeper Raiko Arozarena after receiving a through pass from the electric James.
The lanky Gilbert turned provider in the 28th minute, as he slipped in Jones, who fired a low right-footed shot past Arozarena’s reach to give TT a 2-0 advantage.
For Jones, it was his second goal in as many games after his wonder strike against the Cubans in a 2-2 draw in Santiago on October 10. Both Gilbert and James were unused substitutes in the first meeting with Cuba, but the young attackers were showing their worth in Bacolet as they took TT towards Nations League safety.
“(Dantaye) was pretty good…I spoke to him and he was always eager to play as well,” King said. “I told him ‘once you go on the pitch, just do what you have to do.’
“And I think he was outstanding.”
A former Secondary Schools Football League national intercol winner with Presentation College (San Fernando), Gilbert made his senior TT debut in June when the Warriors hammered Bahamas 7-1 in a World Cup qualifier.
He was thrilled to score his first goal for the national team.
“It was an honour to score my first goal. All thanks to the boys – Nathaniel James for the assist. And yeah, we’re staying in Concacaf Nations League A,” Gilbert said.
“We had a draw in the last game and we needed to get a result in this game. The boys just came out and put our best foot forward and we got the result.
“I don’t think the emotions of scoring my first goal have really hit me yet…going into the World Cup qualifiers, we need to try and make the World Cup and it’s all up from now.”
TT wasted a number of goal scoring opportunities in the 2-2 draw with Cuba, and King was momentarily haunted by his team’s wastefulness in the return fixture as Cuba got on the scoresheet in the 62nd minute when Yasniel Matos scored from close range after a cheap giveaway by a Soca Warriors player.
“As I told the players, ‘once they keep the opposition in the game they’ll always feel they have a chance.’
“What we saw today (Monday) is progress with the team.”
Anxiety crept into the Soca Warriors’ play, as the Cubans created more chances. TT also lost some of their fluidity when the injured Jones hobbled off the field in the 51st minute.
However, Jones’ replacement, Gill, effectively sealed the game and calmed the Soca Warriors’ nerves when he rounded Arozarena to slot into an empty net just three minutes after Cuba’s goal.
With little to do for most of the game, custodian Adrian Foncette preserved TT’s two-goal lead with a fine save in the 68th minute, before Karel Perez was sent off two minutes later for a second bookable offence – reducing Cuba to ten players as they desperately chased the game.
The writing was on the wall for Cuba by then. For TT, their mission of securing Nations League A survival was complete.
“The key factor is that we’re creating goal scoring opportunities,” King said.
“I think we were sloppy, especially defensively…we have to continue working (on this) if we want to compete with the top guns in Concacaf.”
Trinidad and Tobago : 21.Adrian Foncette (GK); 16.Alvin Jones, 2.Aubrey David (captain), 17.Justin Garcia (4.Sheldon Bateau 88); 14.Shannon Gomez, 6.Andre Rampersad, 19.Noah Powder, 5.Ross Russell Jr (18.Triston Hodge 70); 3.Joevin Jones (11.Real Gill 50), 15.Dantaye Gilbert (8.Isaiah Lee 70); 9.Nathaniel James (13.Michel Poon-Angeron 70).
Unused substitutes: 1.Christopher Biggette (GK), 22.Denzil Smith (GK), 7.Ryan Telfer, 10.Kevin Molino, 12.Adriel George, 20.John-Paul Rochford, 23.Kevon Woodley.
Coach: Derek King.
T&T and Cuba tie 2-2 in Santiago
Caretaker coach Derek King would have felt justified when the recalled pair of Sheldon Bateau and Joevin Jones scored in the team’s 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League A clash with Cuba on October 10, but the Warriors are still in danger of relegation from the Nations League top flight after a 2-2 draw at the Antonio Maceo Stadium, Santiago.
Precariously positioned in fifth spot in the six-team group B before the encounter, King’s charges needed a win to come out of the relegation zone – the bottom two teams will be relegated to Nations League B – and he made as many as six changes to the starting XI from the goalless draw with French Guiana last month. Jones and the industrious Noah Powder were brought into the midfield, Isaiah Lee was placed alongside 38-year-old striker Kevon Woodley as part of a front two, with defenders Bateau, Shannon Gomez and Justin Garcia being included in a five-man defence which included skipper Aubrey David.
TT took the lead twice in the contest. But on both occasions, the Cubans clawed back as they earned their third straight draw in this Nations League cycle.
For King and his charges, it’s practically back to square one as they remained in fifth spot with two points to show from their three matches. T&T lost 4-0 away to Honduras in their first game on September 6, before their drab draw with French Guiana, and this latest result continues their winless run under the caretaker coach who took over from Angus Eve on August 6.
Cuba are fourth with three points. And although the top two teams from the group will advance to the Nations League quarterfinals, TT’s attention must now switch to survival ahead of a rematch with Cuba in Tobago on October 14.
“The result is really disappointing. We had our chances. We really didn’t put them away. In the first half, we could have been at least two-three goals up,” King told TT Football Association media after the game.
Though the ending was bitter, the game started perfectly for the Soca Warriors, as the 33-year-old Bateau rose highest at the back stick to head in a lovely left-side cross from Triston Hodge in only the eighth minute.
And though Cuba carried most of the momentum in the balance of play with the dangerous duo of captain Maykel Reyes and Dairon Reyes, the Soca Warriors offered a threat of their own on the counter and looked to have destiny in their own hands.
After Bateau’s opener, both teams had great opportunities, with Cuba opting for neat, intricate build-ups in the TT half, and the visitors relying on Jones’ guile on the break and the pair of Lee and Woodley up top. In the 12th minute, TT custodian Denzil Smith tipped a shot from Dairon onto his post, with Maykel somehow blasting a right-footed shot over the bar from point-blank range in the 22nd minute.
Lee and Woodley kept the Cuban defenders honest with their movement, but both players were guilty of wasting great opportunities in a purposeful attack for TT in the 42nd minute. Known as “Showtime,” Woodley missed the chance to put TT in the ascendancy when he dragged a right-footed shot wide of the mark from close range after his teammate Andre Ramersad robbed a lackadaisical Karel Perez of possession in the Cuban box.
After Lee and Jones missed chances of their own at the start of the second half, TT were pegged back when Smith was beaten by an audacious long-range effort from substitute Rey Angel in the 65th minute.
King had warned the Aubrey David’s men about the danger the Cubans posed, but those words of caution seemingly fell on deaf ears.
“Goals win matches. And as I told the guys, once we keep the team in the game, they will build in confidence. And that’s what happened.”
With a response that was almost instantaneous, Jones gave the Soca Warriors a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute with a beauty of a left-footed shot from the edge of the area after Rampersad calmly laid off a precise left-side cross from wing back Ross Russell Jr. With his previous TT performance coming in a forgettable 6-0 loss to the US in the Concacaf Gold Cup last July, Jones’ goal looked to be a worthy winner on his return to national colours.
Unfortunately, the Cubans did not go away quietly. After back-to-back draws against Jamaica (0-0) and Nicaragua (1-1), the hosts had their own motivation, and they equalised in the 75th minute when another substitute, Aniel Casanova, tapped into an empty net after Maykel struck the base of the post from close range.
“Defensively, I think we have some work to do…you could actually see our fitness has some way to go as well but it’s a work in progress.
“It’s important to motivate the guys. Yet, we have to be ruthless. When we went 2-1 up, I think it was a soft goal to concede…we have to take that responsibility as players on the park.”
After retiring from international duty last September, 34-year-old playmaker Kevin Molino made his return to the park as a substitute in the 71st minute. However, Molino couldn’t provide the spark needed to give King and TT their first win in the 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League.
From 9 pm at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet in a few days’ time, TT and Cuba will do battle again. After this next outing, though, TT could find themselves relegated to Nations League B if they don’t get a win over their 165th-ranked opponents.
“This game on Monday is very important for us. We can’t afford to lose the game. This game is something we can build on…we need three points.”
Trinidad and Tobago: 22.Denzil Smith (GK) (21.Adrian Foncette [GK] 68); 14.Shannon Gomez, 4.Sheldon Bateau (16.Alvin Jones 53), 2.Aubrey David (captain), 17.Justin Garcia, 18.Triston Hodge (5.Ross Russell Jr 46); 8.Isaiah Lee, 6.Andre Rampersad, 19.Noah Powder (10.Kevin Molino 71), 3.Joevin Jones; 23.Kevon Woodley (7.Ryan Telfer 46).
Unused substitutes: 1.Christopher Biggette (GK), 9.Nathaniel James, 11.Real Gill, 13.Michel Poon-Angeron, 15.Dantaye Gilbert, 20.John-Paul Rochford.
Interim coach: Derek King
