T&T Futsal men found themselves at the end of another beating 8-2 by Costa Rica on Wednesday night, as they continued preparation ahead of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship in Guatemala City next month, which will be qualifiers for the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania, September 12 – October 6, 2021.
The team, coached by American-born Constantine Konstin was hoping to overturn an embarrassing opening-game 7-1 defeat by the Costa Ricans in the first of two warm-up matches.
After that match, Konstin said his team failed to find its rhythm in the first half and could do nothing although they pulled it back in the second half of play.
The Trinibagonians were expecting to redeem themselves in Wednesday's match, but could not stop a superior Costa Rican attack firing eight goals past them. T&T got goals on each side of the halves, with the ever-dangerous Mark Ramdeen scoring in the first half to send the teams to the interval 4-1 in Costa Rica's favour.
And in the second half, Keston George again found the nets, but the damage had already been done.
Konstin's 14-man team comprises a combination of former T&T Senior Men’s Team players as well as past Futsal team members, including Keron Cummings, Willis Plaza, George, and Sean De Silva, as well as Che Benny, a former national youth midfielder and Ramdeen.
T&T will contest Group A of the qualifiers along with hosts Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. They will face the Dominican Republic on May 4 and Guatemala a day later on May 5.
All matches will be played at the Domo Polideportivo, a venue that has a long history of hosting international futsal competitions, including the 2000 FIFA Futsal World Cup.
The groups are now as follows:
Group A: Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominican Republic
Group B: Panama, Mexico and Suriname
Group C: Costa Rica, Canada and Haiti
Group D: Cuba, United States, El Salvador and Nicaragua
T&T 14-man Futsal Squad
Che Benny- Belmont - Central FC- ALA
Dylon King- Waterhole, Cocorite- Defence Force- FIXO
Darius Ollivierra- Carenage- Defence Force- PIVO
Willis Plaza -Arima- PIVO
Andre Marchan - Beaucaro Village, Freeport- Defence Force- GK
Adrian Welch- Glencoe- Defence Force-ALA
Jameel Neptune- Waterhole, Cocorite - Central FC- ALA
Mark Ramdeen- Siparia- ALA
Sean De Silva- Cascade- unattached- ALA
Aaron Lester- Morvant- Defence Force- FIXO
Keston George- Woodbrook- La Horquetta Rangers- ALA
Dwight Quintero- Blanchisseuse- Defence Force- PIVO
Keron Cummings- Diego Martin- La Horquetta Rangers -ALA
Kern Caesar- Arouca- GK