They went a step better and proved that they are by no means way off their South American counterparts, finishing off a tightly contested friendly in their opponents goalmouth. It was a 0-0 scoreline as Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 team and Peru’s Under 17s completed their second of two warm up matches at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya on Saturday evening.
Both teams, finalists in the 2007 FIFA Under 17 World Championship, gave a taste of what they hope to put on show on the Korean stage but were yet far from ready to show off a Finals display and thankful too that they were still some time away from their closing dress rehearsals.
T&T head coach Anton Corneal was a pleased man though as his boys demonstrated that they were equipped to handle the South American kind of challenge which they will meet against Colombia in August. Of course then points and progress in the Championship will be at stake.
Kenwyne Jones has emerged as one of T&T’s current internationally recognized strikers stemming from T&T’s hosting and appearance at the 2001 Under 17 Championship and fans at the Marvin Lee may have been witnessing the emergence of future local stars. But they got a first hand look at one of the brightest talents on the rise in Peruvian football and perhaps South America based on the ratings given to this player during the South American qualifiers. Number 7 striker Reimond Manco was an exciting sight and provided a stern test for the T&T defense on the evening.
The Alianza Lima forward topscored with three goals and received the “Player of the tournament” award during the South American qualifiers in which his country finished fourth. In the opening phase of their campaign they defeated eventual tournament winners Brazil 2-1 and Bolivia 4-0. Despite some inconsistent results in the second phase, they fought back to draw 2-2 and 1-1 with Ecuador and Argentina respectively to book their place in Korea under head coach Juan Jose Ore, qualifying for any kind of FIFA Finals for the first time since 1978 when its senior team played in the World Cup in Argentina.
Those facts by itself should have skipper Leston Paul and his charges believing more.
T&T created chances and should have put the game away, at least in the 89th minute when substitute Stephan Campbell muffed a golden opportunity, hitting over bar after the loose ball came to him following a right side free kick.
Earlier on, Paul had an ambitious shot from outside go over bar but the Peruvians looked more at ease on the ball, with clinical passing and interchanging as their players stroked the ball around on the artificial surface. But T&T were not to be outdone and what they lacked in cohesion, they made up for in persistence and continuous effort.
Speedy forward Daniel Joseph spurned his effort wide and then Sheldon Bateau headed over bar before the first half approached its midway mark. Manco had Peru’s best attempt of the half, but his close range try was kept out.
Seven minutes into the second half, overlapping right side player Micah Lewis brought the crowd to life when he turned Gary Correa around on the right of the box, first cutting left and then shifting right in effortless fashion but his cross was low and cleared to safety.
In the 61st minute, T&T on one of its rare surges up to that point of the half, saw Paul send Lewis wide on the right but his resulting cross was too much for Kevin Molino to latch on to. A minute later, the hard running Knox laid one back for Paul as his swift effort just missed the crossbar on its way out.
Moments later, goalie Jessie Fullerton had to rush off his line to force Manco wide and prevent him from getting any accuracy on his strike.
Another good chance was squandered twelve minutes from the 90 minute mark when Paul picked out the overlapping Lewis on the right and after his quick send over beat Molino, the ball fell right for substitute Isaiah Ferguson but his rush was too much as his shot from near the penalty spot went over bar. Anthony Molina and Yovic De La Cruz also hit over bar on separate occasions. Then Ryan O'Neil thought he would have a decent try before being stripped off the ball and later on had his effort blocked before Campbell hit the follow up off target after Pedro Gallesse made a partial stop.
Peru never lost composure though and made a couple purposely runs in T&T’s half down the stretch but T&T were the ones who would have felt a little more satisfied with the even result when referee Shane De Silva blew proceedings off.
Trinidad & Tobago: - Jesse Fullerton (Glenroy Samuel 71st), Aubrey David (Stephan Campbell 58th) Sheldon Bateau, Akeem Adams, Leston Paul (capt), Stephen Knox (Isaiah Ferguson 69th), Daniel Joseph (Kevin Molino 60th), Robert Primus (Ryan O’Neil 69th), Jean Luc Rochford, Chike Sullivan (Sean De Silva 58th), Micah Lewis.
Peru: Manuel Calderon, Yovic De La Cruz (Christian La Torre 76th), Nestor Duarte (capt) (Jairo Hernandez 55th), Pedro Gallesse, Joseph Munoz, Anthony Molina, Cesar Ruiz, Juan Zevallos, Reimond Manco, Bryan Salazar, Gary Correa.