T&T Seek First Leg Win in Austin
T&T Seek First Leg Win in Austin
With temperatures ranging between 18 and 23 degrees, Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s team assembled in Austin, Texas on Monday just after midday to complete its build up to Thursday’s opening leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarter final fixture against the United States.
AEK Athens forward Levi Garcia was off the plane and joining his teammates for the first time in this 2023/2024 Nations League campaign. He’s missed the three victories and one loss through injury and obviously not been among the ten goals scored by Angus Eve’s men over the period.
Due to extensive flying time overnight, there was not much done on the physical side on Monday but Eve took his players through their paces on Tuesday night and will get a feel of the Q2 Stadium surface on Wednesday night at the official training.
T&T has not had an easy time against the US in its last three outings, losing 6-0 in the 2019 Gold Cup, 7-0 in a Friendly in January 2021 during Covid and then 6-0 at the 2023 Gold Cup. Yet, there is some reason to believe that anything can occur on Thursday night if the visitors click and remain disciplined and compact against Greg Berhalter’s men who will obviously be seeking to sow things up before heading to Port of Spain for the return leg on Monday. The 2-1 defeat in Couva on October 2017 still hurts the hosts.
See below for pre-game thoughts from Eve, skipper Aubrey David, Andre Rampersad and striker Nathaniel James.
FACTS ON THE MATCH-UPS
Trinidad and Tobago has scored just five goals against the US in all seventeen matches played on US Soil. Arnold Dwarika scored two in the 3-2 loss in Anaheim at the 1996 Gold Cup.Leonson Lewis scored in the 2-1 loss at the 1991 Gold Cup in Pasadena. Hutson Charles scored in the 1-1 draw in the 1990 World Cup qualifier in Torrance and Adrian Fonrose scored in the 2-1 defeat in 1985 during a 1986 World Cup qualifier in St Louis.
T&T has meantime conceded 50 goals in the seventeen matches played in the US. The best result was the 1-1 draw in 1985 and the other most recent being the 1-0 loss in 2005 during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers under Leo Beenhakker, along with the 3-2 loss at the 1996 Gold Cup
Head Coach Angus Eve has scored against the US, in a 2-1 loss during a final round World Cup qualifier in 2005 at the Queen’s Park Oval. He also played in the 0-0 draw at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in the last match of the 2002 World Cup qualifying cycle. He also appeared in the 3-2 loss at the 1996 Gold Cup, the 2-0 loss in a 2002 World Cup qualifier, 2-0 loss in a 1998 World Cup qualifier in Richmond and a 1-0 win in a November 19th, 1994 Friendly at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Of the current squad members, captain Aubrey David has played against the US on two occasions, Alvin Jones has appeared in three matches against today’s hosts; Shannon Gomez came on as a sub in the 6-0 Gold Cup loss; Noah Powder appeared in the 7-0 Friendly loss in 2021; Kaile Auvray appeared in the 6-0 loss at the ’23 Gold Cup; Neveal Hackshaw has three appearances in the matchup, Ryan Telfer and Michel Poon-Angeron have one appearance each. Levi Garcia has made four appearances including the 2-1 victory in the 2018 World Cup qualifier in Couva.
Players List with Appearances and Goals
Goalkeepers
Denzil Smith 5/0
Christopher Biggette 1/0
Rushon Sandy 0/0
Defenders
Justin Garcia 15/1
Aubrey David 77/1
Shannon Gomez 12/0
Alvin Jones 48/4
Andre Raymond 4/0
Jesse Williams 9/0
Ross Russell jr 14/0
Midfielders
Noah Powder 17/2
Kaile Auvray 9/0
Neveal Hackshaw 39/2
Daniel Phillips 8/0
Michel Poon-Angeron 11/0
Andre Rampersad 9/1
Kristian Lee-Him 4/1
Forwards
Real Gill 4/1
Nathaniel James 4/2
Reon Moore 24/7
Ryan Telfer 26/9
Levi Garcia 41/8
Malcolm Shaw 5/1
