T&T Women earn first point vs P.Rico
T&T Women earn first point vs Puerto Rico
Trinidad and Tobago’s Women put on a better display than their previous loss in Port of Spain to earn their first point of the Concacaf W Gold Cup qualifying campaign as they drew 0-0 with Puerto Rico at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium on Tuesday night.
With the result, Puerto Rico now sit in second-place with four points through three games, while Trinidad and Tobago collected their first point after three matches.
Puerto Rico controlled much of the first half and far outpaced Trinidad and Tobago in terms of shots by 6-1, but T&T goalkeeper Simone Eligon held firm in goal, making for a 0-0 scoreline at halftime.
Puerto Rico was back at it to start the second stanza and Juelle Love came within an inch of breaking the deadlock with a shot at the near post that hit the crossbar and deflected away.
But soon Trinidad and Tobago started to create chances in the Puerto Rico area. The Boricua defense was getting pressed back and Asha James had a good crack at goal but missed wide in the 62’.
Puerto Rico were finding room on the counter, though, and Susana Roberts almost snuck in a goal in the 78’ when she managed to round Eligon but could not get it on frame from a narrow angle with Christa Waterman clearing off the line. Jonelle Cato had a long range free kick which missed the crossbar by inches in the closing stages.
Despite the best efforts of both teams, no winner could be found, resulting in a split of the points to close out the window. T&T will host Mexico in December at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Head Coach Richard Hood said after the match that he was pleased with seeing an improved performance despite T&T’s failure to get the win.
“I thought that the performance was a good one for the most part,” he told TTFA Media. “I thought that the girls really worked hard and tried to do the things that we asked them to do. We had to weather the storm in the first half. I thought Simone was again very good in goal. I thought that the back four was tremendous today. Overall I told the girls I was very proud of their efforts.
“Not all the time the football was what we would have wanted throughout the game but I think we are gradually improving. That’s what I asked of the ladies.. that they show in every game incremental improvements and we saw that today,” he said. (Listen to Hood’s full interview below)
