T&T Stay atop Nations League Group

T&T Stay atop Nations League Group

It was an instant classic. National youth striker Nathaniel “Natty” James grabbed an 89th minute winner from a free kick, as Trinidad  and Tobago’s Soca Warriors rallied from two goals down to defeat Guatemala 3-2 in their Group A, CONCACAF Nations League A match, on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

A point playing away to already relegated Curacao on Tuesday will guarantee T&T a first-ever quarter-final spot, joining Group B leaders Jamaica, as well as the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada — the quartet having earned automatic qualification –as the top four ranked CONCACAF nations.

Last night, Rubio Méndez (12′) and Oscar Santis (31′) put Guatemala into an early 2-0 lead, which was erased by Alvin Jones’ penalty (36′), Reon Moore’s (54′) close up equaliser for 2-2, and finally James’ (89′) expertly taken free kick.

Coming on as a late second-half substitute, James left Guatemalan goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen firmly planted to the spot when drilling in from the set-piece, capping a dramatic come-from-behind victory for the Soca Warriors, who also came from behind to win in El Salvador last month.

With victories over Curacao (1-0), El Salvador (3-2) and Guatemala (3-2),  T&T is the only League A nation still with a 100 per cent record. 

Other results last night saw Panama getting an injury-time winner in defeating Curacao 2-1 while Martinique won 1-0 at home against El Salvador, leaving T&T topping Group A (9 points) ahead of Panama (7 pts), Martinique (6 pts) and Guatemala (4 pts) . Already relegated El Salvador and Curacao remain with zero points.

Early on, the officials did neither T&T nor the standard of CONCACAF officiating full justice, by allowing Rubio Mendez a clearly offside goal. T&T dominated the early exchanges and it was quite a surprise when Guatemala took the lead.

Mendez (R) was miles ahead of the defenders when touching in a shot across goal from Derby County striker Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

And Santis pinged a low shot off the far post for 2-0 on the second attempt after defender Alvin Jones blocked his initial shot. But five minutes later when Noah Powder was brought down, Jones converted the penalty for 2-1

Moore missed a couple chances before forcing in a rebound, following Ryan Telfer’s corner-kick and Neveal Hackshaw’s header on goal, to restore parity at 2-2, before James’ heroics sealed full points for the home team.

There were nervous moments at the back end and it took some luck as well, as the Soca Warriors survived a late Guatemala onslaught. 

A second Rubio goal was ruled offside; Guatemala had a  shot come off the underside of the crossbar; and both  T&T goalkeepers, injured Denzil Smith and second-half replacement Christopher Biggette, both came up with match-saving stops.

Every T&T player played a part in an exhilarating victory and a match played as a final, as promised by coach Angus Eve. 

At the end, they earned a standing ovation from an appreciative and ever-growing audience, who now seem interested in watching the national team play football again.

Heroic Effort

Angus Eve, Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s football team head coach, described his players as heroes after Friday night’s dramatic 3-2 comeback victory against Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

Rubio Méndez (12’) and Oscar Santis (31’) put Guatemala into an early 2-0 lead, before T&T rallied through Alvin Jones’ penalty (36’), Reon Moore’s (54’) close up equaliser for 2-2, and an 89th minute free kick taken by teenager Nathaniel James, who came on as a substitute in the 75th minute.

T&T, with nine points, remain atop Group A of the CONCACAF Nations League A, while Guatemala sit fourth on four points.

“We had a lot of heroes on the park today,” Eve said at the post-match news conference. “If we had played this game a couple of months ago, I don’t think we would have come back,” Eve surmised. “The plan was not to be down 2-0, and it shows the fight of this team, the character of this team, and that’s what we have been displaying in this tournament so far.”

The national coach singled out the goalkeepers, Club Sando’S Denzil Smith, who on his birthday put in a tremendous performance before going off injured, and his replacement the debuting Defence Force custodian Christopher Biggette, who did just as well when coming on late in the second half.

“Denzil went into the game with a bad finger,” Eve revealed. “I thought he did tremendous for us, up to the time that he couldn’t go anymore. And you saw Christopher Biggette come on, and it didn’t look like we were missing Denzil at all because he played probably as good as Denzil.”

From match-winner Nathaniel James, Kaile Auvray, Reon Moore, Neveal Hackshaw, Eve said that it was a great team effort. “Everybody did their jobs,” Eve emphasised.

“Nathaniel…this is not the first game we put him on and he had that kind of impact; (Duane) Muckette was steady again; Reon Moore was excellent up front,” the T&T coach continued.

“We thought we would start with the more solid players, more physical players and wear them down and then unleash these players for the last 30 minutes. And it worked,” he added.

When quizzed about Rubio Méndez’s opening goal for Guatemala, Eve seemed uncertain about its validity. He said: “We thought one of the goals was offside, from where the guy was.” Meanwhile, the T&T head coach was grateful of the crowd support his players got.

“Once you’re doing well, Trinidad people come out. Once you are winning, they come out. We thank them for that,” stated Eve. “The boys appreciated the crowd support. We thank them for that.

“You saw when we scored the goal and Noah Powder was gearing up the fans, and the crowd came on board with him and they started to do the wave. These are things that used to happen. I can’t remember when last those things happen. So, yes, the crowd support was instrumental,” he concluded.