National team coach Anton Corneal would have had reasons to feel that his Trinidad and Tobago Under 17 team was making some progress at the end of Sunday’s friendly international against Mexico’s National Under 17 team at Fatima Grounds, Mucurapo.
Though going down 2-0 to a clinical yet not explosive Mexican outfit, T&T showed fight and promise and should definitely fancy their chances of getting a positive result in Tuesday’s second meeting at the Ato Boldon Stadium from 6pm.
Under sunny skies, the defending Under 17 World Champions were out at Fatima Grounds before a home crowd of 750 fans and would probably have felt that the match would have been an easy one for them judging from the less than professional like feel of the facility despite it being the home of the National College champions. However they got a different welcome on the pitch.
The early periods on the dry surface saw both teams trying to feel each other out and there was less goalmouth action than the fans would have expected even if anticipating the visitors to turn up the tempo. Instead, T&T matched them stride for stride.
A defensive lapse resulted in the opening item on the half hour when defender Ryan O’Neil messed up his judgment of a ball pumped forward and Jesus Milan latched on to it before forcing goalie Jesse Fullerton to commit and then neatly lobbing him.
Midfielder Chad De Freitas didn’t necessarily cause panic with his side deliveries but he earned marks for his effort in tracking back and persisting whenever T&T went on the attack. But T&T, and at times Mexico, tried to do too much going forward, losing the ball many a time when a simpler option may have extended the play. Micah Lewis, despite his willingness to take on the defense, often gave up possession because of wanting to do too much.
On 26 minutes, De Freitas also had a ball driven low across the goal from the right.
Prior to the half time interval, De Freitas’ left side corner also caused a goalmouth scramble.
Ten minutes into the second half, following a quick thrust forward, Stephen Knox tried to play a return ball to Daniel Joseph inside the box but goalie Alfredo Medina intercepted.
Substitute Daneil Cyrus forced the Mexicans to pay extra attention to their right side in defense after coming on in the 64th minute. His curling left side corner was scrambled to safety in the 69th minute. Then eight minutes later he beat his man before sending his effort further away from the far left post. The introduction of growing midfielder Sean De Silva also introduced some stability to T&T’s passing in the middle of the park.
The Mexicans, despite falling second to T&T on ball possession for much of the second half, never panicked and kept their game in tact. And even after Medina was cautioned by referee Phillip Jordan for time wasting near the end, there was sufficient time, well four minutes into added on, for substitute Ulises Plascencia to capitalize on a mishap by defender Sheldon Bateau and he calmly slotted home for a 2-0 advantage.
T&T coach Corneal later admitted that he felt at least a draw could have been a result for the hosts.
“I thought maybe we could have gotten something from it but all in all we see a lot of promise from the performance and something where we can build on,” he said. “Of course there is room for improvement and playing teams like Mexico will show you these areas as compared to if you had to play a team of lesser quality. They are also preparing for the final round of qualifiers and they have a reputation to maintain as the defending champions so they would not be giving us any easy challenges. This can only auger well for our preparations.”
T&T Line up – 1. Jesse Fullerton, 2.Aubrey Davis, 3.Ryan O’Neil, 4.Sheldon Bateau, 6.Leston Paul (8.Sean De Silva,60th) 9. Chad De Freitas (20.Daneil Cyrus, 64th) 10.Stephen Knox (13.Isaiah Ferguson, 70th) 11.Daniel Joseph, 12. Robert Primus, 15.Chike Sullivan (19.Kevin Molino,80th) 16.Mikah Lewis. Subs who did not play – 14.Jean Luc Rochford, 5.Akeem Adams, 7.Franz Husbands,16.Akeem Dillon, 21.Glenroy Samuel
Mexico start team: 1.Alfredo Medina, 2.Christian Vazquez, 4.Daniel Fraire, 8.Alberto Pacheco, 9.Raul Lopez,15.Francisco Mejia, 16.Jose Oartuda, 17.Juan Ayala, 18.Carlos Armas, 19.Jesus Milan, 21.Andres Enriquez.