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12
Sat, Oct
Match Report
United Arab Emirates Trinidad & Tobago
United Arab Emirates T&T flag
 Ataulla Guerra (37')
Nathan Lewis (58')

International Friendly
DateVenueLocationAttendance
2018-09-06Estadi Palamos Costa BravaGirona, Spain


Lewis inspires Soca Warriors win


In­dy Eleven mid­field­er Nathan Lewis scored a goal af­ter mak­ing the open­er as T&T So­ca War­riors blanked Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates 2-0 in their in­ter­na­tion­al friend­ly in Girona, Spain, yes­ter­day,

The Arabs were in trou­ble as ear­ly as the sec­ond minute when T&T skip­per Khaleem Hy­land found some free­dom in the area, un­for­tu­nate­ly his shot was on the wrong side of the cross­bar but Charleston Bat­tery' Ataulla Guer­ra, play­ing his first match for T&T in over two years was the epit­o­me of com­po­sure when he fin­ished in style to open the scor­ing in the 37th minute at the end of a classy build up be­tween Lewis and Fin­land-based Shah­don Win­ches­ter.

The speedy Lewis was a thorn in the side of the UAE as he dom­i­nat­ed the left flank for long pe­ri­ods and sub­se­quent­ly came in for some rough play but de­spite con­stant prob­ing from the for­mer Jabloteh winger and Ger­many-based Jo­evin Jones, it re­mained 1-0 T&T at the half.

Jones took over pro­ceed­ings in the sec­ond pe­ri­od as he tor­ment­ed his op­po­nents with deft skill and pen­e­tra­tive pass­es and it was one of those pass­es which opened the door for goal num­ber two.

The Darm­stadt 98 mid­field­er pick up the ball at the half line and just left de­fend­ers in his wake be­fore de­liv­er­ing the per­fect cen­tre for Lewis to neat­ly fin­ish in the 58th minute.

To their cred­it, the UAE then came hard at Den­nis Lawrence’s team with Omar Al­raqi caus­ing some prob­lems in the mid­dle of the pitch but the de­fence in that area was well mar­shalled by Daneil Cyrus and Kevon George.

When they did get through, T&T goal­keep­er Mar­vin Phillip showed his class be­tween the up­rights, deny­ing Al­raqi and Is­mail Al­ham­ma­di who pro­duced cred­i­ble at­tempts.

The 2-0 vic­to­ry makes for an im­pres­sive run for the team since the No­vem­ber 2017 win over the Unit­ed States with three wins, three draws and one loss.

Coach Lawrence was ob­vi­ous­ly pleased with the ef­fort and said: 'I think we did re­al­ly well. I am re­al­ly pleased with the boys. I think every­body knows what we have been through over the last few days and I have to give them full cred­it for their per­for­mance.'

Look­ing at the game the ef­fort they put in and I thought they worked very well as a group and they de­served the vic­to­ry.

'With re­gards to Guer­ra, Lawrence said he thought the USA based play­er played well.'

'I thought Ataulla (Guer­ra) came in and did re­al­ly well. He took his goal re­al­ly well and Nathan Lewis I thought he had an out­stand­ing match to­day (yes­ter­day).

All in all, as a team they all worked to­geth­er and dug in as a team.

In gen­er­al, Lawrence said the match was re­al­ly im­por­tant for the na­tion­al team.

'We spoke about the prepa­ra­tion and they were all an­gry just like I was, so we are very proud with the re­sult and we move on from here now.'

Slo­va­kian-based de­fend­er, 19-year-old Ke­ston Julien was a late in­tro­duc­tion in the match and Lawrence speak­ing of the for­mer Jabloteh play­er said he did a great job.

'We were lead­ing 2-0 and UAE was press­ing and look­ing for a goal, but he came in and did very well, and al­so cre­at­ed a chance where he al­most had an as­sist to make it 3-0.

'All in all, I was very pleased with the to­tal team ef­fort as the boys have shown again they are pre­pared to work hard for T&T.'

Look­ing ahead Lawrence said the fo­cus will now shift to the match against Thai­land on Oc­to­ber 14 in Bangkok, but be­fore that he is ex­pect­ed to have a de­brief­ing about the UAE con­test as well as some dis­cus­sions with the T&T Foot­ball Fed­er­a­tion.

Videos 

Trinidad Tobago vs UAE 2-0 Highlights /friendly match

Dennis Lawrence's post match reactions after 2-0 win over UAE

Teams

Trinidad and Tobago (4-2-3-1): 1.Marvin Phillip (GK); 2.Aubrey David, 4.Sheldon Bateau, 5.Daneil Cyrus, 18.Triston Hodge (6.Keston Julien); 19.Kevan George, 8.Khaleem Hyland (captain); 7.Nathan Lewis (12.Kathon St Hillaire 88), 9.Ataulla Guerra (16.Neveal Hackshaw 67), 3.Joevin Jones (23.Jomal Williams 83); 10.Shahdon Winchester (11.Marcus Joseph 74).

Unused substitutes: 22.Adrian Foncette (GK), 15.Curtis Gonzales, 14.Akeem Humphrey, 13.Duane Muckette.

Coach: Dennis Lawrence

UAE (3-4-3): Khalid Eisa (GK); 20.Mohammed Marzooq (16.Hassan Al Saheh 81), 19.Ismail Ahmed, 6.Mohnad Salem; 2.Mohamed Barghash, 8.Majed Ahmed (25.Ali Salmin 59), 13.Khamis Esmaeel, 21.Mahmoud Al Hammadi; 10.Omar Abdulrahman, 7.Ali Mabkhout, 11.Ahmed Khalil (captain) (15.Ismail Al Hammadi 59).

Unused substitutes: 1.Ali Humaid (GK), 22.Fahad Ahmed (GK), 9.Ahmed Barman, 23.Mohamed Ahmed, 5.Amer Abdulrahman, 26.Bandar Sahmeed, 3.Walid Murad, 4.Khalifa Mubarak, 14.Rayan Mohammed, 17.Fares Hasan.

Coach: Alberto Zaccheroni


LINEUP
1.Marvin Phillip
4.Sheldon Bateau Yellow Card 43 '
5.Daneil Cyrus
2.Aubrey David
18.Subbed outTriston Hodge
 Subbed in 74' Keston Julien
19.Kevan George
9.Subbed outAtaulla Guerra
 Subbed in 67' Neveal Hackshaw
8.Khaleem Hyland (capt.) Yellow Card 28 '
3.Subbed outJoevin Jones
 Subbed in 83' Jomal Williams
7.Subbed outNathan Lewis
 Subbed in 88' Kathon St. Hillaire
10.Subbed outShahdon Winchester
 Subbed in 74' Marcus Joseph
SUBSTITUTES
6.Keston Julien
16.Neveal Hackshaw
11.Marcus Joseph
12.Kathon St. Hillaire
23.Jomal Williams
22.Adrian Foncette
15.Curtis Gonzales
COACH
 Dennis Lawrence
SUBSTITUTIONS
67'Subbed outSubbed inNeveal Hackshaw for Ataulla Guerra
74'Subbed outSubbed inKeston Julien for Triston Hodge
74'Subbed outSubbed inMarcus Joseph for Shahdon Winchester
83'Subbed outSubbed inJomal Williams for Joevin Jones
88'Subbed outSubbed inKathon St. Hillaire for Nathan Lewis
YELLOW CARDS
28'Yellow CardKhaleem Hyland
43'Yellow CardSheldon Bateau