An 80th-minute goal by T&T's in­stru­men­tal mid­field­er Kevin Moli­no earned the So­ca War­riors their first point and goal in Group D of the CON­CA­CAF Gold Cup in a 1-1 tie with Guyana at the Chil­dren's Mer­cy Park in Kansas, Unit­ed States on Wednes­day night.

Af­ter coach Den­nis Lawrence made five changes to his start­ing squad that was drubbed 6-0 by the USA on Sat­ur­day, Lawrence's plan ap­peared use­less as many chances went abeg­ging on both sides of the half.

Levi Gar­cia posed se­ri­ous threats to the Guyanese de­fend­ers down the right flank but failed to find an open­ing in the ear­ly mo­ments of the match be­tween Caribbean ri­vals.

The speedy winger cre­at­ed his team's first re­al op­por­tu­ni­ty on the half-hour mark, re­leas­ing to an un­marked Jo­mal Williams on the left side. But with the goal at his mer­cy, Williams' at­tempt to find the va­cant far post was skil­ful­ly pushed wide by Quil­lan Roberts in the Guyana goal.

Four min­utes lat­er, Gar­cia, af­ter an­oth­er one of his telling runs down the flank, turned and twist­ed his mark­er be­fore at­tempt­ing to thread the ball through a crowd­ed Guyana de­fence on­ly to find Roberts again equal to the task, push­ing the shot wide with a sprawl­ing save.

And when Gar­cia cen­tred the re­bound to an un­marked Le­ston Paul in the box, the diminu­tive play­er placed it wide of the post and in­to the safe­ty of the Guyanese de­fence. Both teams went in­to the half­time break with the score at 0-0 and when the match re­sumed the Guyanese caused a ma­jor scare by tak­ing the lead.

Pro­lif­ic Guyanese strik­er Neil Danns was picked out on the wide left with a search­ing long ball in the 53rd minute and de­spite be­ing tight­ly marked by Aubrey David, Danns cut in past his mark­er and un­leashed a thump­ing shot that flew past re­place­ment goal­keep­er Adri­an Fon­cette in the far left cor­ner for the lead.

Teams

Trinidad and Tobago : 22.Adrian Foncette (GK); 2.Aubrey David, 12.Carlyle Mitchell, 5.Daneil Cyrus (captain), 17.Mekeil Williams, 19.Kevan George, 23.Leston Paul, 10.Kevin Molino, 11.Levi Garcia (7.Cordell Cato 87), 9.Shahdon Winchester (18.Lester Peltier 68), 20.Jomal Williams (3.Joevin Jones 77).

Unused substitutes: 1.Marvin Phillip (GK), 21.Greg Ranjitsingh (GK), 4.Neveal Hackshaw, 6.Duane Muckette, 14.Akeem Humphrey, 15.Curtis Gonzales, 16.Alvin Jones.

Unavailable: 8.Khaleem Hyland, 13.Nathan Lewis.

Head coach: Dennis Lawrence

Guyana: 22.Quilan Roberts (GK); 15.Terence Vancooten, 8.Samuel Cox (captain), 6.Ronanyne Marsh-Brown, 3.Kadell Daniel; 23.Anthony Jeffrey (11.Callum Harriott 46), 4.Elliot Bonds, 7.Keanu Marsh-Brown, 16.Neil Danns; 9.Sheldon Holder (10.Emery Welshman 72), 12.Pernell Schultz (21.Brendon Beresford 46).

Unused substitutes: 1.Akel Clarke (GK), 18.Alex Murray (GK), 2.Kevin Layne, 5.Jordan Dover, 13.Liam Gordon, 14.Daniel Wilson, 17.Torell Ondaan, 19.Stephen Duke-McKenna, 20.Matthew Briggs.

Coach: Michael Johnson

Highlights

FINAL STANDINGS

P  W  D  L  F  A  pts
USA  3  3  0  0  11  0  9
Panama  3  2  0  1  6  3  6
Guyana  3  0  1  2  3  9  1
T&T  3  0  1  2  9  8  1

RELATED NEWS

Molino’s goal gives T&T farewell point.
TTFA Media.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Men’s Team left Gold Cup 2019 with a point after three matches as they played to a 1-1 draw with Guyana at Children’s Mercy Park on Wednesday night in a Caribbean derby in Kansas City.

Minnesota United midfielder Kevin Molino scored the equalizer for T&T in the 80th minute after Guyana got the breakthrough on 54 minutes. Former Crystal Palace player Neil Danns coming in off the left side and bending a shot to the far post with his right foot from just inside the 18, the ball hitting the underside of the crossbar and going in for Danns’ third goal of the Gold Cup.

Guyana GK Quillan Roberts had the highlight moment of the first half in the 34th minute.  Molino showed off some dazzling skill in the box before hitting a low shot that forced Roberts to dive down to his right to make a brilliant stop.

The breakthrough for Guyana came in the 54th minute. T&T had only themselves to blame for not putting the game away in the first half with Jomal Williams and Levi Garcia going close. Williams sent a right footed curler to the left which forced Roberts to save to his left. Garcia also forced his way into a good position before missing the mark from inside the box.

Molino leveled it on 80 minutes, the Minnesota United player getting on the end of a ball over the top and cutting around the hesitantly onrushing Roberts and tapping home from an acute angle into an empty net.

Both teams concluded the tournament with one point, with Guyana ahead in third place in Group D on goal difference.

Molino: We must evolve from this Gold Cup

Lawrence post-game comments after 1-1 draw with Guyana

RELATED NEWS

Molino ends goal drought as T&T, Guyana draw.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

MIDFIELDER KEVIN Molino ended T&T’s goal drought, after seven international matches, with an 80th minute equaliser as they held Guyana to a 1-1 draw in their final Group D match, in the Concacaf Gold Cup, last evening.

This match of the cellar-placed teams in the group was contested at the Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, United States.

The result meant that Guyana finished third in the group with one point, the same as TT but with a superior goal difference (minus six compared to T&T’s minus eight).

Neil Danns, a 36-year-old English-born midfielder, put Guyana ahead in the 54th minute.

Making a move on the left, Danns moved past Guyanese-born T&T defender Aubrey David and unleashed a right-footed shot which flew past goalkeeper Adrian Foncette, via the uprights, and into the back of the net.

But Molino, who was controversially omitted from the starting line-up in Saturday’s 6-0 trouncing by the United States, levelled the scores with 10 minutes remaining.

Molino received a ball from deep by Levi Garcia, got around goalie Quillan Roberts, and slotted home a left-footed shot, despite a valiant attempt from defender Terence Vancooten.

This was T&T’s first goal since September 6, 2018, when they defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-0 – the last victory thus far for the Dennis Lawrence-coached outfit.

During the post-game interview, Molino said, “I think we should have (gotten) more from the game. We need to go back to the drawing board and keep working, keep the mentality and keep positive, no matter what happens. But we’re getting the chances.”

Molino, who plays for Minnesota United in the Major League Soccer (MLS), noted, “I’ll go back to my club, recuperate a bit and reflect on a lot of things. This tournament is going to make me stronger.

“We had a tough tournament and we need to build from here (onwards).”

T&T made six changes to the team that was hammered by the US.

Molino, Foncette, Shahdon Winchester, Mekeil Williams, Carlyle Mitchell and Jomal Williams started, in place of captain Khaleem Hyland, Marvin Phillip, Nathan Lewis, Cordell Cato, Neveal Hackshaw and Alvin Jones.

T&T lost their opening Group D game, by a 2-0 margin, against Panama last Tuesday.

T&T coach laments missed chances against Guyana

DENNIS LAWRENCE, T&T men’s football team coach, has lamented the amount of missed chances during Wednesday’s match against Guyana, in their final Group D game at the Concacaf Gold Cup.

At the Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, United States, T&T and Guyana battled to a 1-1 draw. Neil Danns put Guyana ahead after 54 minutes but another midfielder, Kevin Molino, equalised in the 79th.

During the post-game media conference, Lawrence said, “It was a very simple game. If you score and the opposition don’t score, you’ll win the game. And, for the amount of chances we had, I think the game should have been over probably in the first half. We didn’t take our chances.”

Lawrence continued, “A Guyanese team that has very good determination managed to get their noses in front and then it was uphill for us.

“If you look at all the chances that we had in the game, I didn’t think the result was fair or balanced. It’s disappointing to not come away with three points and some goals under our belt. But we didn’t lose the game, which is a credit to the boys.”

Wednesday’s result ended a streak of seven win-less matches for the T&T team (including six defeats).

And Molino’s goal was the first scored by T&T since their last victory – 2-0 over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Girona, Spain on September 6, 2018.

Lawrence faced criticism for his use of Levi Garcia as a lone striker during the previous two matches in the Gold Cup – a 2-0 loss to Panama last Tuesday and a 6-0 trouncing by defending champs US on Saturday.

But the ex-T&T central defender sees a bright future for Garcia, who plays for Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona FC in Israel.

“I think Levi has a big role to play for T&T football,” said the T&T coach. “At the age of 21, he’s had experience in Europe (with Dutch clubs AZ Alkmaar and Excelsior). He’s definitely one who is going to lead our attack in some form or fashion, whether it be as a (striker) or whether it be as a winger.

“Hopefully he’s going to learn and it will help him to grow. He’s a special player for us. We need to probably build our team around players like him.”