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Wilson scores again, but Sheppard's heroic double seals it for T&T over Jamaica.
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A double from Presentation College San Fernando left-winger Jaiye Sheppard in the 34th and 60th minute respectively, helped T&T rallied from a goal down to steal a sweet 3-2 victory over Caribbean-rivals Jamaica at the IMG Soccer Stadium in Florida.

T&T's number-9 striker Justin Araujo-Wilson also got on the scoresheet as the former Defence Force prolific goalscorer continues his fine goalscoring form making it 3-goals in 2 games. Having former T&T strikers Stern John (coach) and Kenwyne Jones (his assistant) as his mentors will certainly be good contributors to the player's development.

T&T extracted perfect revenge after a humiliating 8-1 defeat to Jamaica when both teams met two years ago in the Concacaf Under-15 Championship at the same venue. Former T&T coach Russell Latapy was at the helm then and both goalscorers (Wilson) and (Sheppard) were also part of the team.

Both teams meanwhile, are competing in the 2019 CONCACAF Under 17 Men’s Championship and with the results it means that T&T are through to the second rounds. Jamaica on the other hand is still very much alive if they could beat Bermuda which will see them play Group G runner-up.

Trinidad and Tobago will meet Mexico next, which will no doubt be their toughest assignment in the tournament thus far. Mexico sits on-top of the Group having yet, to concede a single goal in their first two outings and, in this tournament.

The team that finishes as Group winners will face Group B winner Puerto Rico, while runner-up will have to tackle Group G third-placed team.

Head-coach Stern John told the TTFA Media. “I’m delighted for the boys. I spoke to them about the importance of this match and the fact that it is the biggest Caribbean derby and they went out there and demonstrated exactly how they felt about it. They followed my instructions an stuck to the plan. I think they had a bit of a score to settle as well from a previous match a couple of years ago,: said John.

“Now we have showed that we came here to compete because I don’t think anyone gave us a chance coming into this tournament. Now we’ve proven them wrong and I’m backing my boys to keep their heads high and continue playing good football. It’s still a far way off in terms of qualifying for Brazil but I will give them credit for pulling off two wins and showing that they are no pushovers,” John added.

Teams

T&T: 1.Isaiah Williams; 2.Nigel Carraby, 3.Luke Savery (Yellow 69), 4.Jordon Britto, 5.Cephas St Rose; 6.Zachary Welch (capt) (10.Andrew De Gannes 85th), 7.Jaiye Sheppard (Yellow 61) (17.Kevan Kahoussi 72nd), 19.Ajani Fortune, 8.Tyrese Pierre, 14.Jerrell Nixon (11.Jean-Heim Mc Fee 67th), 9.Justin Araujo-Wilson.

Unused substitutes: 20.Kahlil Oliver; 13.Gary Griffith III, 15.Jeremy Lashley, 16.Keilon Burnett-Acevaro, 18.Isa Sayeed, 12.Curtis De Leon.

Coach: Stern John.

Jamaica: 20 Shamar Haffenden; 4.Damian Jones, 5.Scott McLeod (capt), 6.Kenroy Campbell (Yellow 43), 18.Dandre Miller (Yellow 71, 85 = Red), 7.Dwayne Atkinson, 10.Jamone Shepherd, 12.Cristojaye Daley (8.Gregory Cousins 70th), 17.Kenroy Stoddart (14.Isaac Scott 55th), 16.Rajay Wright, 19 Tajay Grant (15.Giovanni Mittoo 69th).

Coach: John Gilchrist.

Referee: Armando Villarreal (USA).

Videos:

Stern John reactions after 3-2 victory over Jamaica

CU17 JAM 2-3 TRI | Highlights

Group E Results

Venue: IMG Soccer Stadium, Florida.

T&T 3 (Jaiye Sheppard 34, 60, Justin Araujo-Wilson 44) v Jamaica 2 (Cristojaye Daley 17, Isaac Scott 90)

Mexico 5 (Efrain Álvarez 10, Luis Martínez 16, Santiago Muñoz 56, Israel Luna 82, Kevin Mariscal 87) v Bermuda 0

Group E Standings

P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
Mexico  2  2  0  0  6  0  6
Trinidad & Tobago  2  2  0  0  6  3  6
Jamaica  2  0  0  2  2  4  0
Bermuda  2  0  0  2  1  9  0

Upcoming Games

May 5th

Jamaica v Bermuda
Mexico v Trinidad & Tobago

RELATED NEWS

Soca Warriors seize dance floor; Araujo-Wilson and Sheppard help T&T U-17s enact revenge over Reggae Boyz.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


The Trinidad and Tobago National Under-17 Team will meet Mexico on equal footing on Sunday after the junior Soca Warriors maintained their 100 per cent group record this evening with a battling 3-2 Concacaf Championship win over regional rivals, Jamaica, in Brentford, Florida.

Two years ago, the two aforementioned Caribbean nations met at the same venue in the Concacaf Under-15 Championship and the result was a humiliating 8-1 win for the young Reggae Boyz. There was none of that nonsense today and, at the final whistle, it was Jamaican players who slumped to the ground and buried their faces in the grass.

Winger Jaiye Sheppard and forward Justin Araujo-Wilson might have especially enjoyed the result. They were among five Trinidad and Tobago players today—including captain Zachary Welch, defender Cephas St Rose and substitute Jean-Heim Mc Fee—who were victims of that mauling, two years ago.

Sheppard and Araujo-Wilson were particularly influential in the preparing of the cold plate of revenge served to the ‘land of ackee and saltfish.’

Jamaica could have had no idea about what was coming their way. For most of the game, the Boyz enjoyed over 60 per cent of ball possession and it was they who struck first. The match was 17 minutes old when flanker Dwayne Atkinson whipped in a cross from the right side which Cephas St Rose failed to cut out and Cristojaye Daley rammed home with a left footed volley.

Trinidad and Tobago custodian Isaiah Williams got a hand to the Jamaican effort but could not keep it out. Daley was the only change in the Jamaica team that lost 1-0 to Mexico on Wednesday while Williams was one of three alterations to the Warriors team that downed Bermuda 3-1 in midweek.

But T&T coach Stern John—who replaced another 2006 World Cup standout Russell Latapy at the helm of the youth team—did not have to wait long to see his inclusions come into their own.

The bit about ‘forwards being the first line of defence’ is no empty cliche with this squad. And as Jamaica were harried into conceding possession in their own half of the field, Araujo-Wilson found midfielder Tyrese Pierre whose diagonal ball was turned in at the back post from an acute angle by the lunging Sheppard in the 34th minute.

It was completely against the run of play but, improbably, Trinidad and Tobago went ahead in the 44th minute as the Jamaican defence failed to deal with a deep free kick aimed at gangly six-footer Jerrell Nixon.

The ball broke for Araujo-Wilson and he enhanced his reputation as a poacher of some promise with a controlled first time volley past Jamaica custodian Shamar Haffenden.

Araujo-Wilson celebrated with a sprint to the half-line to hug John. John, of course, is Trinidad and Tobago’s record senior international goal scorer and a former England Premier League striker with Birmingham City and Sunderland AFC. Assistant Under-17 coach Kenwyne Jones is a former Premiership forward with Southampton, Sunderland, Stoke City and Cardiff City.

Araujo-Wilson, a former Fatima College schoolboy, could hardly find better mentors.

Jamaica never stopped plugging away but their malaise only grew in the 60th minute, as Nixon held off opposing full back Kenroy Campbell before whipping in a brilliant cross that Sheppard converted with an improvised header.

Sheppard, an unused substitute against Bermuda, showed what the goal meant to him as the Presentation College (San Fernando) student whipped off his shirt to celebrate—and received the mandatory booking for doing so.

Jamaica’s next booking was far costlier as central defender Dandre Miller got a second yellow card and marching orders after a cynical foul on Araujo-Wilson. The Trinidad and Tobago ‘number 9’ was virtually unplayable and should have stretched the Warriors lead with another dynamic run on the break, only to be denied by the legs of Haffenden.

At the death, the twin island republic tried to see off the match with negative ball possession and instead conceded a late goal as Atkinson burst past Savery and pulled back for substitute Isaac Scott to finish, after being granted far too much space in the T&T penalty box.

But it did not spoil a memorable outing for the young Warriors, whose returns so far have made a mockery of their chaotic preparation for the competition.

“I spoke to them about the importance of this match and the fact that it is the biggest Caribbean derby,” John told the TTFA Media, “and they went out there and demonstrated exactly how they felt about it. They followed my instructions and stuck to the plan.

“I think they had a bit of a score to settle as well from a previous match a couple of years ago.”

Mexico, who defeated Bermuda 5-0 this evening, and Trinidad and Tobago both have six points after two matches and meet to decide the group winners from 4pm on Sunday. Mexico have a superior goal differential and need only a draw to top the group.

The winner between Jamaica and Bermuda will advance to the Round of 16 while the loser will be eliminated. Jamaica, due to a better goal difference, will advance with a draw.

The top four nations from the Concacaf Championship advance to the Brazil 2019 Under-17 World Cup.

“Now we have showed that we came here to compete because I don’t think anyone gave us a chance coming into this tournament,” said John. “Now we’ve proven them wrong and I’m backing my boys to keep their heads high and continue playing good football.

“It’s still a far way off in terms of qualifying for Brazil but I will give them credit for pulling off two wins and showing that they are no push overs.”

Junior Warriors stun Jamaica.
By Walter Alibey (Newsday).


A dou­ble strike from T&T's pro­lif­ic for­ward Jaiye Shep­pard in the 34th and 60th min­utes con­firmed T&T's pas­sage to the next round of the CON­CA­CAF Un­der-17 Cham­pi­onship with a 3-2 vic­to­ry over Ja­maica at the IMG Acad­e­my in Flori­da, USA yes­ter­day.

With two teams pro­gress­ing from the group, the win puts T&T in con­tention to win Group A when they face the gi­ants of Mex­i­co in their fi­nal match to­mor­row af­ter­noon.

The young So­ca War­riors were al­most cer­tain of ad­vanc­ing af­ter an im­pres­sive 3-1 tri­umph over Bermu­da in their open­er on Wednes­day.

But they got a ma­jor scare when the young Reg­gae Boyz jumped out front cour­tesy a 17-minute strike from Chris­to­jae Da­ley. The tal­ent­ed Ja­maican strik­er wait­ed in an­tic­i­pa­tion as Dwayne Atkin­son took the ball past two T&T de­fend­ers on the right side be­fore de­liv­er­ing to him to fire in­to an open goal.

T&T, coached by Stern John, a for­mer T&T in­ter­na­tion­al, set­tled in the game nice­ly there­after, but they had to wait un­til the 34th-minute for the equal­iz­er. Shep­pard of Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do, turned hope in­to re­al­i­ty by con­vert­ing at the far post, a goal that came af­ter Justin Arau­jo-Wil­son drib­bled in­to the Ja­maican dan­ger area, be­fore re­leas­ing to an un­marked Shep­pard at the back door to fire home.

But as the match ap­proached the half-time in­ter­val, T&T took the lead. Shep­pard from a 43rd-minute free-kick saw the Ja­maican de­fence strug­gle to clear the ball, and it fell nice­ly for Arau­jo-Wil­son to beat the goal­keep­er at the far post to send T&T to a 2-1 ad­van­tage.

And af­ter the break, the T&T team as­sured them­selves of a place in the sec­ond round, when Jer­rel Nixon, son of for­mer T&T strik­er Jer­ren Nixon, stormed down the right flank and whipped in a cross for Shep­pard to head home in the 68th minute for a 3-1 lead.

Down by two goals, the Ja­maicans were then re­duced to 10 men when Dan­dre Miller re­ceived march­ing or­ders for his sec­ond book­able of­fence in the 84th minute.

Still, it did not pre­vent the Ja­maicans from fight­ing, and they were re­ward­ed for it with a con­so­la­tion item in the 93rd minute.

Isaac Scott found him­self at the end of a right-side cen­tre from Atkin­son in­side the area, and he picked his spot nice­ly, by fir­ing be­yond the out­stretched arms of T&T goal­keep­er Isa­iah Williams.