T&T pulls off a convincing 9-0 victory over Aruba to Top Group D with four points and advance to the quarter finals of the CFU U-17 Youth Cup. They will now face Dominican Republic in the quarter-finals at the Marvin Lee Stadium from 6pm on Wednesday.
Aruba’s Jomar Martis also conceded a 33rd minute own-goal past his goalkeeper Jordany Tromp while Luke Hernandez and Vernell Ramirez netted second-half items to complete the romp.
With the win, T&T ended Group D with four points, the same as Bermuda but with a better goal-difference of plus-nine, to plus-six. The Bermudans still qualified for a round-of-16 play-off with Group B winner, Guyana at Macoya from 6pm Tuesday for the right to meet Cuba in tomorrow’s quarterfinal.
It was actually Aruba who had the first try at goal when Diiks Lionel forced goalkeeper John Thomas to save on his near post in the second minute. But T&T soon settled and Britto showed the making of a big striker. He picked up the ball about 20 yards out and strode past two defenders before placing it perfectly past the goalkeeper’s right to send T&T ahead.
Aruba were determined not to go down easily and Leliendal Ryan got himself into a one on one with Thomas but the latter was quickly off his line to claim. Britto would again take control, this time progressing up the left and unleashing an unstoppable left footer in on the near post to push T&T ahead 2-0.
Still Aruba continued to find holes in the T&T defense and were unlucky not to get on the scoreboard when Ryan sneaked behind the back line and hit inches wide with only Thomas to beat.
But Aruba’s bravery was nearing end and T&T got their third item when Britto rushed in to connect and the ball came off Martis Jomar and appeared to be heading wide of the right far post before making a leg break turn and entering the goal.
T&T went on to dominate and rightfully secure the 7-0 advantage before completing the win with two further goals. It should well have been double figures though for the Anton Corneal coached team.
T&T Line-Up: - 1-John Thomas, 2-Stephen Wiltshire (4-Dinnel Lopez 87th), 5-Zavion Navarro, 7-Shadon Winchester, 10-Jerrel Britto (17-Ross Russell 87th) 11-Akeem Grant, 13-Moriba Ballah, 14-Reshad Wint, 15-Luke Hernandez, 18- Shaquille Stewart.
Vernell Ramirez on as second half sub.
Did not play: - 3-Omar Charles, 6-Dillon Kirton, 19-Ryan Fredericks, 21-Jamal Francois.
Match Stats / T&T v Aruba
Shots 3/24
Shots on target 4/13
Fouls 7/10
Saves 0/2
Corners 1/7
Match Officials
Referee – Roland Persaud (Guyana)
Assistant 1 –JeremyTaylor (Barbados)
Assistant 2 – Samuel Jack (St Vincent/Grenadines)
Fourth Official – Sandy Vasquez (Dominican Republic)
Match Commissioner – Louis Charles
Click for Post Game Comments.
Other Matches
The other qualifiers for the quarterfinal round of matches included group winners Haiti (Group F), Cuba (A), Jamaica (E), Guadeloupe (F) and second place teams, St Vincent and The Grenadines (A) and Dominican Republic (E).
At St Mary’s College Ground, Serpentine Road, Cuba (nine points) secured top spot in Group A after a 10-0 mauling of St Vincent and The Grenadines (six points) in their top of the table clash.
Down at Fatima College Ground, Mucurapo, the Jamaica ‘Reggae Boyz’ edged Dominican Republic 1-0 with an 81st minute Juvane Benjamin item to win Group E with maximum nine points.
At Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre, Guadeloupe sounded an alarm to the remaining title hopefuls with a 5-0 whipping of Suriname in the Group D decider. Both teams went into the match on a high, with Suriname clobbering USVI 9-0 and Guadeloupe winning by a 10-1 margin over the same opponents.
Results
Group A: St Mary’s College ground, Muucrapo:
Dominica 2 (Nigel Sanderson 22nd, Mikey Edwards 26th) vs Turks & Caicos 0.
Cuba 10 (Yaudel Lahera 12th, 26th, 28th, 40th, Raidel Fernandez 24th, 68th, Randy Lizama 7th, Liosvel Hernandez 32nd, Osvaldo Lemus 73rd, Dayron Blanco 77th) vs St Vincent & The Grenadines 0.
Group C: Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre:
St Kitts/Nevis 2 (Kadeem Inniss 35th, Davishorn Buckon 54th) vs Cayman Islands 0.
Group D: Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya:
T&T 9 (Jerrel Britto 9th, 20th, 39th, 71st pen, Jomar Martis o.g 33rd, Shahdon Winchester 34th, 64th, Luke Hernandez 74th, Vernell Ramirez 85th) vs Aruba 0.
Group E: Fatima College Ground:
N/Antilles 2 (Vivas Ivanou 14th, 40th) vs Antigua & Barbuda 2 (Jeve Lee 4th, Carl Osbourne 66th).
Jamaica 1 (Juvane Benjamin 81st) vs Dominican Republic 0.
Group F: Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre:
Guadeloupe 5 (Axel Telbios 30th, 85th, Vladimir Pascal 7th, Kevin Sainte Lucie 41st, Lilie Bernard 45th) vs Suriname 0.