On a good night for local football, Trinidad and Tobagos Under-23s advanced to the final stage of qualifying for the 2004 Olympics Games after stopping Grenada 3-0 on Wednesday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
November 19, 1989 is most remembered in T&T for the heartbreaking loss to the United States which denied this country a place in the 1990 World Cup in Italy. But on the 14th anniversary of that sad day, the new nationals went some way to healing the wounds. Having earlier seen the senior team defeat Cuba 2-1 in a friendly international, a fair-sized crowd had cause for applause as the junior Soca Warriors produced both good and entertaining football.
The contest was settled by a quick start which gave T&T a 2-0 lead after just ten minutes. And an early second half goal then put the hosts into a commanding position which made the easy chances they missed late in the match merely academic. Having come away from Grenada with a 1-1 draw last Saturday, Trinidad and Tobago advanced 4-1 on aggregate. They will next play in Guadalajara, Mexico from February 2-12 in the final CONCACAF qualifying series, which also involves the United States, Canada, Honduras, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama and the home team. The eight countries will be competing for two CONCACAF berths at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier was just as impressed by his charges as many who witnessed the match. Fevrier said that one of the reasons for the improved showing was the higher quality of the surface they played on and also his emphasis on his team having a greater share of the ball by maintaining possession. I was very pleased with the performance. I didnt think we just won the game, we also totally outclassed the opponents, Fevrier said yesterday.
The St Lucian-born coach is hoping for further improvement from his young charges and wants to have his boys full-time for at least six weeks before next Februarys tournament. If possible, Fevrier will spend most of that time training at high altitude to prepare his boys for conditions they are likely to meet in Mexico.
On Wednesday night, the crowd were on their feet after just five minutes when Kendall Davis shot Trinidad and Tobago ahead. Midfielder Kerry Baptiste showed plenty speed to elude his marker up the left, and although his cross was a little long, it was brought back across by Josh Johnson towards Davis, who swept the ball into the Grenada net from the centre of goal.
Soon after, Devon Mitchell just failed to get the ball in his stride when found by a nice pass around the Grenada defence. But the T&T forward soon made amends in the ninth minute when he headed in Lyndon Diazs right-side free-kick at the near post.
At that stage, Grenada had not once threatened the T&T goal and except for Aaron Smiths low shot which T&T goalie Jan Michael Williams gobbled up, the visitors rarely caused a panicked moment for Ronald Primus, Jones or Diaz in the T&T defence.
The only other occasion Grenada came close to causing a ripple was late in the first half when Marc Marshalls free-kick bounced awkwardly in the Trinidad and Tobago penalty area, before the ball was swept away by a timely defensive clearance.
At the other end, Silvio Spanns free-kick fell to Diaz, the very active left side defender, who swept the ball through a crowd and brought out a good save from Ken Searles, the Grenada custodian. And just before the first half ended, Searles also put his body in the way to block Kenwyne Jones drive after another free-kick from Diaz.
There was no better proof of the benefits of playing T&T Pro League football week-in, week-out than watching the local boysall club professionalsrun rings around the amateurish Grenadians.
Fuelled by the passes of midfield leader Spann and penetrating runs from Nigel Daniel and Johnson in the wide positions of the 3-5-2 system, the local boys were able to pierce the Grenada line-up with a web of probing passes, while maintaining possession for long periods. If Grenada had any thoughts of a comeback in the second session, they evaporated in the 56th minute when goalie Searles dropped a floated cross at the feet of Baptiste, who swept the ball first-time into the net. Towards the end, Trinidad and Tobago missed several easy chances to go further ahead. Substitute Jason Marcano, the top Under-20 striker in the country, missed at least two.
First, he beat the offside trap but failed to negotiate a path around Searles and later missed the open goal after being put through on the left.
Kevon Clement, another sub, was stripped when he waited too long to put away a short pass from Marcano. By then, T&T were already celebrating and not even the late squander would spoil an unusually good November 19 football performance, as for Jason Marcano the W Connection youngster, who could have scored at least a beaver-trick in the final 20 minutes, but instead had a nightmarish game in front of goal.
TEAMS:
T&T: Jan-Michael Williams; Ronald Primus, Lyndon Diaz, Kenwyne Jones, Nigel Daniel; Devon Caseman, Silvio Spann (capt) (Michael Celestine 79th), Josh Johnson, Kerry Baptiste (Kevon Clement 75th); Devon Mitchell (Jason Marcano 70th), Kendall Davis.
Grenada:
Ken Searles; Richardson Ettienne (Dwayne Leo 70th), Jason James, Lonne Alexis Alister Fleming (Shane Renne 59th); Kerry Bristow, Ashton Henry, Marc Marshall, Ricky Morris (capt); Kithson Bain, Aaron Smith (Ian Perrotte 60th).