The U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team defeated a hard-working Trinidad & Tobago side 5-0 on Saturday at the Estadio Cementos Progreso to qualify for the all-important semifinal match at the 2012 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship.
Emily Bruder and Joanna Boyles each had a goal and assist while Summer Green tallied once with two assists as the U.S. U-17s broke down the Trinidad defense with a four-goal second half.
Mexico defeated the Bahamas in the second Group B game meaning that both USA and Mexico are through to the semifinal stage. The winners of the semifinals and the third-place match in this tournament qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan later this year.
The U.S. U-17s finish Group B play against Mexico on Monday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. local) with the winner claiming first place in the group. All matches for the 2012 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship can be watched live on CONCACAF.com.
On Saturday, the USA struggled to finish in the first 45 minutes despite creating at least a half-dozen clear-cut chances and Bruder scored the lone goal of the first half in the 20th minute. Her pinpoint strike from well outside the penalty box flew over Trinidad goalkeeper Lebrisca Phillip and skimmed off the underside of crossbar in the upper left corner. Green had her team-leading sixth assist of the year in setting up Bruder.
The USA could have added to its first-half scoring total, but missed numerous close range chances or unleashed shots right at Phillip. Two of the team’s best scoring chances in the first half came off corner kicks that were taken short.
In the 16th minute, Green took the short corner from the left and played it to left back Gabbie Miranda whose left-footed cross found Maddie Bauer at the back post, but the U.S. center-back sent her point-blank header just wide. A similar buildup took place in the 36th minute with Miranda again crossing the ball that slipped through to Bauer, but Phillip made the save on her close-range shot.
Phillip also came up with a clutch save in the 38th minute to stop a Green shot that she didn’t strike cleanly, but nevertheless was part of a good buildup from the U.S. and Bruder in particular who sent the cross from the right.
Trinidad & Tobago closed out the half in better form and came close to finding an equalizer in the 41st minute on Jonelle Warrick’s shot from outside the box that clipped the crossbar as U.S. ‘keeper Jane Campbell dove to cover the goal.
Trinidad’s other scoring chance of the game came in the 53rd minute as Donika Murray slipped behind the U.S. back line into the left side of the penalty area. She struck a hard ball at frame, but Campbell made an excellent flying save to her right defuse the chance.
After pounding away at the T&T back line for the entire match, the USA finally put the game away with goals from Andi Sullivan in the 65th minute and Sarah Robinson in the 67th minute. Campbell actually picked up the assist on Sullivan’s goal, sending a prodigious goal kick that flew over the Trinidad defense. Sullivan ran onto the ball and raced in on the breakaway, sending a left-footed shot from 13 yards into the right corner past the charging Phillip.
Two minutes later, Bruder dribbled up the middle and laid off the ball to the right to Robinson. On a nifty play inside the penalty area, the diminutive U.S. midfielder worked the ball to her left at the top-center of the box before shooting from 17 yards into the right corner past Phillip.
Green, who scored five goals during the USA’s 10-0 rout of the Bahamas on Thursday, then added her sixth goal of the tournament in the 86th minute, a left-footed shot into the right corner after she had broken free into the left side of the penalty area off a nice pass from 79th-minute substitute Joana Boyles.
Boyles then capped off the scoring with a long-distance strike nearly three minutes into stoppage time for the USA’s fifth goal of the match and 15th of the tournament.
U.S. head coach Albertin Montoya rested several players in the match with Midge Purce, scorer of a hat trick against the Bahamas, and midfielder Lauren Kaskie getting the game off. Boyles, defender Morgan Reid and forward Darian Jenkins also saw their first action of the tournament as second-half substitutes.
Women U-17 Highlights - USA v Trinidad Tobago.
- U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team Match Report -
Match: United States U-17 Women’s National Team vs. Trinidad & Tobago U-17 WNT
Date: May 5, 2012
Competition: 2012 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship – Group B
Venue: Estadio Cementos Progreso; Guatemala City, Guatemala
Kickoff: 2 p.m. MT (4 p.m. ET)
Attendance: 200
Weather: 72 degrees, warm and cloudy
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 1 4 5
TRI 0 0 0
USA – Emily Bruder (Summer Green) 20th minute
USA - Andi Sullivan (Jane Campbell) 65
USA - Sarah Robinson (Emily Bruder) 67
USA - Summer Green (Joanna Boyles) 86
USA - Joanna Boyles (Summer Green) 90+3
Line-ups:
USA: 1-Jane Campbell; 3-Brittany Basinger (20-Morgan Reid, 73), 5-Maddie Bauer, 16-Mandy Freeman, 6-Gabbi Miranda; 10-Morgan Andrews (capt.), 17-Sarah Robinson, 11-Morgan Stanton (12-Joanna Boyles, 79); 8-Summer Green, 7-Andi Sullivan (13-Darian Jenkins, 66), 9-Emily Bruder
Subs not used: 14-Lauren Kaskie, 15-Margaret Purce, 18-Cassie Miller, 19-Toni Payne
Not Available: 2-Lizzy Raben, 4-Amber Munerlyn
Head Coach: Albertin Montoya
TRI: 1-Lebrisca Phillip, 4-Liana Hinds (2-Dennecia Prince, 77), 5-Adeka Spence, 6-Khadisha Debesette (15-Nikkia Billouin, 60), 7-Diarra Simmons, 10-Marlique Asson, 11-Khadidra Debesette, 14-Emma Abdul, 16-Donika Murray, 17-Jonelle Warrick, 19-Anique Walker (capt.)
Subs Not Used: 8-Victoria Swift, 9-Zoe Swift, 12-Rhonda Guiseppi, 13-Shanisa Camejo, 18-Naomie Guerra, 20-Khadijah de Freitas, 21-Shantelle Christian
Head Coach: Even Pellerud
Stats Summary: USA / TRI
Shots: 20 / 5
Shots on Goal: 11/ 2
Saves: 2 / 6
Corner Kicks: 8 / 4
Fouls: 9 / 4
Offside: 3 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
None
Officials:
Referee: Alicia Villatoro (GUA)
Assistant Referee: Marisol Salazar (GUA)
Assistant Referee: Milagros Leonardo (DOM)
Fourth Official: Irasema Aguilera (CUB)
ussoccer.com Woman of the Match: Sarah Robinson.
Quotes from players and U-17 WNT head coach Albertin Montoya after the team's 5-0 win against Trinidad & Tobago at the CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship.
USSOCCER.COM.
U.S. head coach ALBERTIN MONTOYA
On the USA’s sub-par finishing early in the match…
“We have to put the ball away when we have our opportunities. I thought in the first half we could have easily been up four or five nothing and that would have made it a much easier game for us. Instead, we had to fight through it, which also helps us, as it builds some character. Trinidad made it difficult for us, but we have to learn to put teams away.”
On the better finishing in the second half…
“In the second half, we were definitely much more efficient in our finishing and that was the difference. We created about the same number of opportunities in the first and second halves, but I think they tired out a little bit and our midfield did a good job of moving the ball around and we put the ball away.”
On resting several starters and giving some reserve quality minutes…
“It’s important not only to rest some of our starters, but to give some of those other players some confidence. Look at Jo Boyles coming in and having an assist and a goal and having an immediate impact on the game. That’s definitely going to help with her confidence moving forward in this tournament.
On the team’s depth…
“I’ve said all along that we are a deep team and can put different players in there. (Lauren) Kaskie and Toni Payne, two very good players, we were able to rest them today and Midge Purce played the full ninety [minutes] last game and she’s one of our tops forwards, but we decided to rest her and keep her fresh for Mexico. It’s very valuable when we have players that can come in and make a difference.”
On looking forward to the final group match against Mexico…
“Our mentality from day one has been to be the best team in the tournament and in order to be the best team you have to win all the games from start to finish. Our goal is going to be the same from the start, let’s go out there, win every game and play better soccer as the tournament goes on. I thought this was a much better performance than the first game and hopefully against Mexico we will raise the level and I think we will. Our team is ready for that challenge so we are looking forward to continuing to improve as the tournament goes.”
On the U.S. back line…
“I thought we were solid all the way around. Trinidad is an athletic, dangerous team and we definitely limited their chances on goal. Jane (Campbell) came up big when she needed to and that’s important and difficult. For a goalkeeper that doesn’t see as much action, and all of sudden she is asked to make a big save and she did. So that also builds confidence for our back line and goalkeepers.”
U.S. defender MADDIE BAUER
On the match…
“Trinidad and Tobago came out really hard and it was a lot different than our first game. We were under a lot more pressure but I think just communicating with our teammates, making sure we were organized on the long balls, and just talking and having a good shape kept us together with zero goals against so that was good for us.”
On lessons learned from the game…
“I think we learned once again we can’t underestimate any team. We have to come out hard every single game because we never know what some teams are going to bring. Each game is just as important as the next and this game could be the difference in qualifying and not so we just have to come 100% every single time.”
U.S. midfielder MORGAN ANDREWS
On Trinidad & Tobago…
“They came out fighting. They’re a great team and an absolute fun team to play against so I congratulate them on that. I think we played better as the match went on. We really got the nerves out in the first half and then in the second half we brought our ‘A’ game.”
On looking forward to the Mexico game…
“We just really have to finish our chances. We won’t get as many moving forward, but we have a full day to rest and will be ready to give our best effort against Mexico.”
U.S. forward EMILY BRUDER
On the good fight put up by T & T…
“It challenges and prepares us for Mexico because that’s going to be another challenging game and we need to expect it’s going to be harder. We need to be ready so we can move on to the semis from there.”
On the better second half finishing...
“We figured everything out at halftime. Albertin and the coaches gave us everything we needed to know for the second half and we went out there and solved our problems, and probably could have had more goals.”
U.S. midfielder SARAH ROBINSON
On the match…
“I think we started off pretty well, but we just weren’t finishing our chances. So during halftime, the coaches were saying to put away the chances and get an early goal in the second half. I thought once we got that goal in the second half, the others just started coming.”
On the play of the U.S. midfield…
“I think the midfielders did a great job today. We were able win most of the fifty-fifty balls and play some dangerous balls to our forwards and we were also a threat to score.”
USA ends T&T hopes.
By Shaun Fuentes.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 Women’s footballers will not be making a second successive appearance at the FIFA Under 17 women’s World Cup after losing their second match to the United States 5-0 on Saturday evening but will seek a winning end to their campaign when they face Bahamas on Sunday to close off their appearance at the final CONCACAF round in Guatemala City.
Needing to record a win against a United States team gunning to prove a point after failing to qualify for the 2010 Finals in Trinidad and Tobago, T&T showed a bit of grit but it was not enough to grind out a result. Mexico took the other semi-final round spot with a comfortable 6-0 win over Bahamas on Saturday's other encounter.
“The history books will never tell us a story about a T&T Under 17 team that fought a strong and relatively even match for as long as 70 minutes against a power house and world leading team this afternoon,” Pellerud told TTFF Media as he summed up the team’s performance soon after the final whistle.
The ex-Canada head coach touched on what he believed was two factors that continuously affect national teams.
“Our team could not longer cope with two factors that traditionally kill any T&T team. Even with main players Victoria Swift, Kadisha Debesette and Liana Hinds, we simply do not possess a player depth to cover for players of this stature.
And a desperate lack of match experience and therefor match fitness hurts us when the game goes into the deep end,” Pellerud stated.
“And then the classical judgment errors are piling up on the playing surface. With Debesette out we ran out of centre back options and were forced to move players around, thus the second goal was a result of total lack of spacing judgment. The late goals created a final result that not really reflect the match. This happens to all of our national teams.”
Looking ahead to the Bahamas fixture, he added “Looking back again at the loss to the US, I felt the girls came out with a big fight they deserve credit for that. Most of them played up their individual potential against a superior opponent, and there isn’t more can a coach can ask for.
The staff is immediately starting the job to get the girls mentally and physically ready for the Bahamas match on Monday, trying to make sure that a positive last match becomes the outcome.”
Another Report from T&T repoter Lasana Liburd.
T&T U-17 women eliminated by US
… Ladies can end on a high against the Bahamas
By Lasana Liburd (wired868).
Ninety minutes can seem like an eternity in sport.
For the first hour, the Trinidad and Tobago under-17 women’s football team competed well with its United States counterpart at the Concacaf Championship in Guatemala City although the latter outfit got the lone goal in that period. Emily Bruder had put the US ahead in the 20th minute.
There was a different story by the final whistle. The United States had a 5-0 scoreline in its favour by then and Trinidad and Tobago was eliminated with a game to spare.
Mexico whipped Bahamas 6-0 in the second fixture of the Guatemala City and is guaranteed to advance to the semi-final stage alongside the US.
Trinidad and Tobago faces Bahamas on Monday in the final match of the tournament for both teams. The two Caribbean nations played each other in the qualifying series on 1 December 2012 and Trinidad and Tobago won 3-0.
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