DAVID SCARLETT
TT’s quest for qualification from Group F in the Concacaf Under-17 Championship was hindered by North American powerhouses, the United States, on Monday evening. However, the young Soca Warriors can hold their heads high following stellar performances in their first two games as they prepare to battle for advancement in the final fixture of the group.
TT’s U17 team fought valiantly against a better-prepared US outfit but fell to a 3-1 defeat at the Estadio Pensativo in Antigua, Guatemala.
The young Warriors also lost their opening match 3-2 to Canada, having played with ten men for 70 minutes. Malachi Webb and Lindell Sween were the scorers on the night.
Shawn Cooper made five changes to the starting eleven following the sending off of Crystal Palace midfielder Rio Cardines in the match against Canada. Injuries to Jaden Williams’ and Armani Rowe also forced the TT boss to switch things around, as he brought in Tyrell Moore, Michael Chaves, Tau Lamsee, Jeremiah Niles and Aydon Caruth.
The young Warriors took the field prepared to scrap for opportunities and keep a tight defensive block in a compressed 4-4-2 formation against one of Concacaf’s best teams.
On the evening, the US out-shot the Warriors 32 to seven and had the superior spell of possession, holding 75 per cent of the ball as opposed to TT’s 25 per cent. When it came to corner kicks, TT stood their ground to defend the majority of the American’s 12 set pieces from the field’s vertices.
However, the match was firmly decided within the first 25 minutes as the US clinically took their chances against the Warriors, who struggled to deal with the American’s pressing game in the early stages.
In the 11th minute, the US retained possession from a cleared corner kick and played it into the box for Taha Habroune on the right side of the pitch. The midfielder then evaded his defender and played a drilling cross through the Trinidadian defence to Micah Burton near the middle of the six-yard line, and the striker tapped the ball into the left side of the net.
The Americans doubled their lead three minutes later when Sawyer Jura drove towards the byline before playing the ball across the goal into the goal area for Paulo Rudisill to score his first goal of the tournament.
The score would then be 3-0 to the US in the 24th minute as Rudisill turned provider to set up Habroune, who tapped clinically tapped the ball into the net and give the Americans a solid lead.
At half-time, Cooper altered his team to set up a flat line of five players in midfield. This change proved to be successful as TT limited their opponents and were able to create more chances of their own in the attacking third.
However, unlike the match against Canada, there was no fight-back from the Warriors on this occasion. But St Benedict’s standout Derrell Garcia netted a consolation goal for TT as the budding midfielder volleyed Malachi Webb’s cross off the bounce past the diving US goalkeeper to ensure that there was no American clean sheet.
Following the match
