Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 team got some welcomed scoring practice on Thursday as they punished a visiting New Jersey team, Cherry Hill Football Club 6-0 in a training affair at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
The locals, preparing for August’s FIFA Under 17 World Championship in Korea completed their second straight win over American opposition, as a couple days earlier they ran past Triangle FC of North Carolina 9-0.
On Thursday, assistant coach Hutson Charles was in charge of the group as head coach Anton Corneal was on his way back from Peru after a scouting trip during which he viewed Colombia’s 0-0 draw with Peru last week. T&T lost 1-0 and drew 0-0 with Peru here earlier this month and Colombia is one of the three nations in T&T’s Group for the World Championship.
In their win over Cherry Hill, T&T controlled the proceedings before Cherry Hill showed some fight and created a couple scoring chances in the second half. A first half hattrick by Marcus Joseph paced T&T to a 4-0 half time lead with striker Daniel Joseph getting the other goal. Further second half goals by Akeem Dillon and Brenton Balbosa made it six for T&T in the second half played on a wet surface that evening.
“It was two good matches for us from the point of view that we wanted to score goals. The boys were told to make the best of the opportunity and they did just that. It’s important also that we get good practice in scoring goals,” Corneal told TTFF Media.
“At the same time we are aware of the other areas of our play that needs to be worked on and it is all part of the process leading up to the tournament in August.”
Corneal gave his views briefly on Colombia’s 0-0 result with Peru, saying that Colombia proved to be the better team.
“They (Colombia) were physically better and more mature. They are also stronger with some tall guys in defense and a couple big forwards. We will have to prepare and plan accordingly for that. They will be a tough team to play against and they remind me of the Colombian senior team from a few years back when they had several good players in their line up. But we will not be daunted by their look at this stage,” Corneal said.
“Peru also created chances but Colombia is a team that tries to play and in some cases they overplayed a bit. This gave us a good chance to see where they are at right now and we will continue our preparations which also has to be geared towards facing the two other teams”
Germany and Ghana are T&T’s other two opponents in the Group.
Meantime, midfielder Chad De Freitas is currently undergoing rehab after undergoing surgery a couple weekends back. He suffered a knee injury prior to the two games versus Peru. Doctors have indicated that he will possibly be back on the training field within two weeks or so.
Currently 32 players are in a live-in camp and the squad will be cut to 21 in coming weeks for the tournament.
“It’s hard to pick 21 players right now and that may be a good thing but it’s tough to have to disappoint some of the young boys who have displayed a lot of courage and commitment over the past,” Corneal concluded.