Strikers Maylee Attin-Johnson and Kennya Cordner each scored twice to guide Trinidad and Tobago to a 4-0 trouncing of Suriname in the final match of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under-20 series at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima on Thursday night.
Attin-Johnson found the back of the net in the 14th and 35th minutes while Cordner was on target in the 22nd and 59th minutes.
In another match Jamaica completed their unbeaten run in the round-robin competition with a narrow 1-0 victory over Haiti, courtesy of a 77th minute strike from Venicia Reid.
Reid was later adjudged the "Most Valuable Player" while Cordner got the "Golden Boot" as the top goalscorer with four goals. The hosts were also recipients of the Fair Play Award while the Best Goalkeeper accolade went to Jamaican Paula Jackson.
Haiti, who were beaten in their three matches, were the odd ones out as Jamaica, TT and Suriname all advanced to the CONCACAF Under-20 Final Round qualifiers in Mexico in January.
Those three teams will join two Central American teams including Panama, Canada, the United States and the Mexicans in the eight-team competition, with three teams progressing to the 2006 FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Championships in Russia.
Following Thursday’s match, national coach Jamaal Shabazz noted: "I think we improved with every game and we were able to have a lot of questions answered in terms of who would be ready to play at the next level.
"The good thing is that we tried all 20 players (who) got a chance to play at least 30 minutes," he added. "We know we have a lot of work to do for the CONCACAF leg of the tournament."
"Generally we need to raise the level of our game but I think we’re going to emphasise more defensive organisation because of the fact that, in the CONCACAF region, we’ll be meeting opponents who’ll be superior to us," said Shabazz.
And he will be getting back into action very soon as the squad prepare for the Final Round phase.
"The good thing is that (during) the Christmas vacation we will have the availability of the foreign-based players so we will get a chance to do some work," he stated. "We’ll rest for a week and we’ll get back into action," he said.
Under-20 Women’s Honour Roll:
Player of the tournament: Vernecia Reid (Jamaica)
Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Paula Jackson (Jamaica)
Golden Boot: Kennya Cordner 4 (T&T)
Fair Play Award: T&T
Final Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Qualification.
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Jamaica 3 3 0 0 4 1 9
T&T 3 2 1 0 7 2 6
Suriname 3 1 2 0 2 7 3
Haiti 3 0 3 0 2 9 0
Summarised CFU Under-20 Women’s scores:
13.11.2005:
Suriname 2 vs Haiti 1
Jamaica 1 vs T&T 0
15.11.2005:
Jamaica 2 vs Suriname 0
T&T 3 vs Haiti 1
17.11.2005:
Jamaica 1 vs Haiti 0
T&T 4 vs Suriname 0