Chances of T&T’s ‘Soca Warriors’ making it to its first World Cup are still alive.
Jason Scotland opened the scoring for T&T in the 48th minute, Stern John made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 69th, Denzil Theobald netted his first international goal with a beauty in the 74th and substitute Scott Sealy rounded off the scoring in the 86th.
The visitors were expected to push everything into attack in order to wipe off the 2-0 deficit from last Sunday’s first leg when Marvin Andrews and Stern John scored.
They got the first decent opportunity to take the lead when Surinamese referee Antonius Waldo awarded them a penalty in the 17th minute for a foul by Andrews on striker Omar Francisco Zapata.
T&T goalkeeper Clayton Ince, who received a yellow card for protesting referee’s Waldo decision, kept the scoreline blank by diving to his right to save the penalty by Kelvin De Jesus Severino.
Zapata was unable to continue and was replaced not long after the foul by Luis Omar Sanchez.
There was good positional play by T&T in the first five minutes as the game began to warm-up. But throughout the remainder of the session, the players could not convert the chances.
The T&T players showed their superiority by putting the ball on the carpet and trying to play constructive football.
Forwards Scotland, who appeared uncomfortable as his first touch was letting him down, John and Theobald were all unable to finish effectively.
What was interesting though was that young defenders Kenwyne Jones and Marlon Rojas were able to over-lap down the flanks and make things happen up front.
The floodgates eventually opened for the home team minutes after the re-start with Scotland making amends for his poor first-half performance.
Following a breakdown in play, the Dominican Republic was unable to prevent skipper Angus Eve from bursting through with acres of space all around him.
The captain had no problem finding Scotland, who neatly tucked the ball away from goalkeeper Oscar Majia Abreu. John’s goal from the penalty spot came as a result of a defender pushing down Brent Rahim in the area.
Theobald scored a tremendous goal. He volleyed a left footer from an Eve centre that flew past ‘keeper Abreu in the wink of an eye. Wake Forest University’s Scott Sealy, who was making his first appearance with the senior team, was handed a goal on the platter by Cornell Glenn, who realised that his partner was in a better position to score than him. It was Sealy’s first goal in his first match at that level.
T&T will now meet Mexico, St Kitts/Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines in the four-team round-robin group semi-finals from August 18 to November 7.
The group will be one of three in the qualifying semi-final round. The two nations topping each of the semi-final groups advance to a final round group of six teams to be played next year, from February to October.
T&T:
Clayton Ince, Marvin Andrews, Dennis Lawrence, Marlon Rojas, Kenwyne Jones, Anthony Rougier, Denzil Theobald, Angus Eve (capt), Brent Rahim (Scott Sealy 75th), Jason Scotland (Cornell Glenn 65th), Stern John (Kerry Baptiste 87th).
Dominican Republic:
Oscar Abreu, Flavio Taveras (capt), Franklin Garcia, Freddy Otano, Wilkys Obreu (Samuel Arias 62nd), Kelvin Severino, Manuel Abreu, Samuel Alvarez (Feliciano Corporan 88th), Omar Zapata (Luis Sanchez 21st), Edwarsds Espinal, Juan Conteras.