Trinidad and Tobago’s National Futsal team suffered their second defeat to Costa Rica when both teams met in a friendly at the Liceo de Curridabat on Friday night. Following the 6-0 defeat on Wednesday, T&T got on the scoresheet this time through Ishmael Daniel but were outscored 6-1 by the reigning CONCACAF champions.
Isais Mora put the hosts ahead in the 7th minute and they stamped their authority on the match with further goals from Jariel Sandi and an own goal to take a 3-0 lead before half time.
T&T were better on the offensive this time around but could not manage too many clear cut chances on goal. Offensively the Costa Ricans proved yet again to be strong and clinical in their ball movement and finishing.
The Costa Ricans would get further items from Jorge Jiminez, Johan Bolton and Steven Solis to take a 6-0 lead before Daniel found the net for T&T five minutes from the end of play.
His goal came when T&T broke from their own half with Jerwyn Balthazar winning possession and forcing a ball wide on the left to the onrushing Noel Williams who played the ball over on the right for Daniel so slot home from close range.
Earlier Jameel Neptune also had a decent try on goal from close up but could not beat the Costa Rican goalkeeper. Balthazar also failed to control a good ball from the right while inside the penalty area before the Costa Rican custodian got hold of the ball. Kerry Joseph also had a low powerful effort blocked by the goalkeeper after receiving a pass on the left from Balthazar.
T&T will aim to shake off the two losses as they now look ahead to the two qualifying matches against Honduras at the BN Arena in San Jose on May 4th and 5th. The winner on aggregate will advance to the CONCACAF Final stage in San Jose from which four teams will qualify for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia.
Head coach Clayton Morris said he saw some improvement from the opening 6-0 loss.
“Generally it was a very encouraging performance in the second game. After the first game on Wednesday we had a post-mortem and went through some of the things we did not do. Where was the composure on the ball, the shape, the confidence and the patience? These are the things we were doing at home and it was missing in the first game. But we saw it coming back last night and this is why I can say there was some form of improvement,” Morris told TTFA Media.
“We played a lot of games at home but against opposition that is no way in comparison with what we are facing in Costa Rica. This is really a yardstick to measure ourselves in terms of where we are and what it will take to get us past Honduras,” he added.
“I’m proud to say that we can see the players taking the initiative to make improvements. The players know what is at stake and they are prepared to go the distance. From as early as 6am on Thursday following the game the night before, the captain knocked my door and asked for balls as the players were going out to work on some things that they felt needed to be addressed. That is always good for a coach to see when his players are that eager to make improvements on their game,” Morris added.