COOPER CREDITS VALIANT EFFORT VS CANADA
COOPER CREDITS VALIANT EFFORT VS CANADA
Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 Men put up a valiant fight but could not hold off Canada as they suffered a 3-2 defeat in their opening match of the CONCACAF Men’s U-17 Championship at the Estadio Pensativo on Saturday.
The US defeated Barbados 5-0 in the second group match on the evening to lead the group heading into tomorrow’s meeting with T&T at 9:00pm TT.
T&T suffered a blow when English-born Rio Cardines was shown a straight red for a handball offence near the goal which forced the Shawn Cooper-coached team to contest the rest of the encounter a man short. From the resulting penalty, goalkeeper Ailan Panton came up big with a low save to his left to deny Kyler Vojvodic.
Vojvodic, who is with the Vancouver Whitecaps academy, redeemed himself in the 27th minute, tapping a low cross past Panton after a nice dummy run by Lucas Ozimec for a 1-0 lead.
Panton would later make a fine diving save off an Omeze shot in the 59th minute but was beaten two minutes later when, after a short corner, Gael de Montigny found an unmarked Omeze in front of goal and the Toronto FC academy forward headed the ball home.
Go here for Official Concacaf Match Details
T&T hung in there and pulled a goal back when substitute Malachi Webb beat the offside trap for a breakaway before dribbling around onrushing goalkeeper Nathaniel Abraham. Webb’s angled shot just beat a chasing Canadian defender into the goal.
But Canada hit back as Vojvodic roofed a shot from just inside the penalty box one minute later to restore Canada’s two-goal lead.
Lindell Sween made it interesting in the 80th minute, curling a beautiful free kick from outside the penalty box over the Canadian wall and past a diving Abraham.
Head Coach Cooper later credited his side for their gutsy showing.
“It was a great response from the boys after going a man down,” Cooper told TTFA Media.
“We showed resilience and played for a result nevertheless. I think we started off very nervous especially when playing out of the back. I have seen us do it much better. There were too many mis-directed passes.
“I think the sending off of Rio affected the team’s confidence especially being double penalized for still a questionable handball. Several officials at the game thought it was too close to call especially in real time. We looked back at it and frame by frame photos showed Rio’s hand in the air but Panton’s hand played the ball in front of Rio’s hand.
“We just paid the price for his hand position and we have to move on from it. I think the lack of experience to settle after that incident showed for a while and the first goal came shortly after.
Can’t ask for more from the boys
“As a coach you can’t ask for more from the boys after the first half. They played with good spirit and after a tactical change at the half we fought to get back into the game. We pulled a goal back but immediately lost concentration after scoring which I think went down as a lack of experience, knowing you are must vulnerable when you have just scored.
“The plus is we played 70 plus minutes and never gave up. I think we should all commend the boys for that effort. They won the hearts of the spectators who were present by the ovation they got after the game. This was not the best game I have seen them play but the effort was second to none, which shows the character within the squad.
Next Game will be interesting
The next game will be another interesting one seeing how mature the US looked against Barbados. They really controlled the game effortlessly and Barbados is not a bad team by the look of things especially in the first half. This was just a well-prepared US team they came up against. We will have to be much more clinical in our passing and movement off the ball against this well-experienced and organized US team to get a positive result.
Trinidad and Tobago (4-2-3-1): 1.Ailan Panton (GK); 3.Joshua Figaro, 2.Jaden Williams (6.Aydon Caruth 46), 4.Lyshaun Morris;7.Rio Cardines [Red card 19], 15.Armani Rowe, 8.Josiah Ochoa (captain) (19.Tyrell Moore 90); 11.Derrel Garcia (13.Vaughn Clement 68), 12.Jeremiah Cateau (14.Tau Lamsee 68), 18.Dominic Wilson (17.Malachi Webb 46); 9.Lindell Sween.
Unused substitutes: 20.Jaden Ottley (GK), 5.Samuel Duncan, 10.Michael Chaves, 16.Jeremiah Niles.
Head Coach: Shawn Cooper
Canada (3-1-4-2): 1.Nathaniel Abraham (GK); 5.Chimere Omeze, 6.Lazar Stefanovic (captain), 13.Richard Chukwu; 4.Alessandro Biello; 2.Theo Rigopoulos (12.Aidan Fong 72), 10.Antoine N’diaye (20.Andrei Dumitru 46), 8.Jeevan Badwal, 3.Gael De Montigay (15.Victor Fung 72); 19.Kyler Vojvodic (7.Ibrahim Higazy 84), 11.Lucas Ozimec (9.Erik Pop 72).
Unused substitutes: 18.Alexander O’Brien (GK), 14.Ruben De Sa, 16.Etienne Godin, 17.Liam MacKenzie.
Head Coach: Andrew Olivieri
Referee: José Fuentes
