Two goals from striker Larry Noel in the 19th and 36th and a masterful performance from England-based Rio Cardines and Michael Chaves assured T&T's Under-20 team a comfortable 5-0 victory over Dominica Sunday night in Group D of the Concacaf U-20 World Cup Qualifiers at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain.
Chaves, the scorer of the winning goal in their opening match against St Vincent and the Grenadines found himself at the end of an early T&T build-up inside the Dominica goal area, and though pressured by defenders, the Fatima College midfielder made room for himself before hitting past goalkeeper Ronny Lockart for the opener in the third minute.
The young "Soca Warriors", needing to win the encounter for a chance to face Canada in their final match on Tuesday, for a chance to progress as the group winner produced a much-improved performance from their opening game, as coach Brian Haynes made four changes to his team, replacing Lindell Sween, Derrel Garcia, Levi Jones and Russell Francois with Chaves, J'lon Matthews, Josiah Ochoa and Akil Henry.
T&T might have had another goal in the sixth minute when Rio Cardines picked out Noel with a right-side centre, however, the latter could not direct his attempt on goal.
Noel, Chaves and Cardines led a deadly attack for the young Warriors from the start and when they combined again in the 19th minute, T&T got their second item of the match. Cardines, on the right side, tested Lockhart with a powerful low shot that the custodian could only push into the path of Noel to hit into the roof of the net for a 2-0 lead.
Then, Chaves galloped through from a Noel pass for a chance at his second item on the night, but he failed to beat the advancing Lockhart in the 27th minute.
By then, the T&T team had gained control of the match and raced to a 3-0 advantage in the 35th minute when Noel broke the Dominica off-side trap from a long Cardines ball, and he received favour when an advancing Lockhart mistimed the bounce of the ball and it flew over his head, only for Noel to hit the ball into an empty net in the 35th minute.
A minute later, however, Cardines got their fourth of the half when his powerful grounder was kept out by a diving Lockhart. But when it rebounded to him, Cardines made sure by hitting it into the far corner for a 4-0 lead at the halfway stage.
Dominica, beaten 8-0 by the Canadians in their first game, looked a much-improved outfit when the game resumed. In fact, a neat build-up between Tyreese Carbon and Adriel Lawrence almost led to the breakthrough they were hoping for. Lawrence though, after receiving a left-side centre in the 53rd minute, saw his low left-footed shot whisked past Ailan Panton's goal.
Instead, T&T got a golden opportunity to go five goals up as Cardines sent Noel on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Noel was sent flying by the custodian, forcing Honduran referee Jefferson Escobar to point to the penalty spot in the 58th minute.
Noel though saw his kick saved by an outstretched Lockhart.
The Dominicans later came close to their first goal again from a freekick, but Panton pushed wide a curling effort by Ajani Richards in the 76th.
The remainder of the match was entirely dominated by the junior Warriors who got their fifth goal from Garcia in the 81st minute for a comfortable 5-0 victory.
In the earlier match at the same venue, Canada got a hat-trick from Tavio Cuccarelli in the 25th, 54th and 89th minutes and another from Alessandro Biello in the 51st to beat St Vincent and the Grenadines 4-0.
Teams
Trinidad and Tobago (4-2-3-1): 1.Ailan Panton (GK); 5.Lyshaun Morris (17.Jaden Williams 59), 4.Cody Cooper (captain) (3.Russel Francois 64), 16.Akil Henry, 2.Duhrell Young; 8.Abayomi George (12.Jeremiah Cateau 57), 15.Josiah Ochoa; 7.Rio Cardines (11.Derrel Garcia 65), 13.Michael Chaves, 20.J’lon Matthews (19.Malachi Webb 46); 9.Larry Noel.
Unused substitutes: 18.Bryan Gafiuk (GK), 21.Makaya Taylor (GK), 6.Levi Jones, 10.Lindell Sween, 14.Tyrell Moore.
Coach: Brian Haynes
Dominica (4-3-3): 12.Ronny Lockhart (GK) [Red card 59]; 3.Malachi Labad, 5.Jaylan Jno Ville (2.Luke Itodo 75), 13.Lyan Edwards, 4.Laquante Alphonse; 7.Roosevelt Coipel (18.Pherel Esprit 66), 19.Yhan Timothy, 8.Dhamario Challenger; 10.Keeyan Thomas (captain) (16.Ajani Richards 75), 9.Tyreese Carbon (1.Anton Wyke [GK] 60), 14.Adriel Lawrence.
Unused substitutes: 21.Dwight Eloi (GK), 6.Jonathan Winston, 15.Dequan Abraham, 17.Jamo Talbert, 20.Shermal Clifton-John.
Suspended: 11.Fabio Drigo.
Coach: Malcolm Bertrand
Referee: Jefferson Escobar (Honduras)
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T&T/Canada showdown
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)
Trinidad and Tobago set up a winner-take-all showdown with Canada when comfortably winning 5-0 over Dominica for their second victory of the CONCACAF U-20 Men Group D qualifying series, last night, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
But if coach Brian Haynes was looking for an all-round improvement, he would again have been disappointed. The Soca Warriors had a better start that in their previous nail-biting 3-2 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines, where they were down two goals early.
But halftime last night, Trinidad and Tobago had four goals, striker Larry Noel scoring two of them with Michael Chaves and Rio Cardines also netting. Captain Cody Cooper had a downward header cleared off the line. Even within this period of dominance, Trinidad and Tobago only looked comfortable going forward, and prone to error in both midfield and defence. Therefore, Dominica were always in the match and also got their fair share of chances, but had neither the composure nor talent to take any of them.
Earlier yesterday evening, Tavio Ciccarelli (23’, 54’, 89’) scored a hattrick as Group leaders Canada won 4-0 over a stubborn St Vincent and the Grenadines, also for their second win of the tournament after hammering Dominica 8-0 in their opener. Alessandro Biello (51’) also scored.
T&T and Canada are now tied on six points, but the North Americans have a superior goal-difference and would advance if they draw with T&T on Tuesday. The home team need to win.
With just one team advancing out of the group to the Concacaf U20 Championship later this year, and goal-difference a potential issue going into Tuesday’s decisive final match against Canada, T&T head-coach Haynes might have expected T&T to carry on forcefully in the second half. Instead, they were largely flat, allowing Dominica their best period.
Noel even missed a chance to complete his hat-trick by missing a penalty, after he was taken down by goalkeeper Ronny Lockhart, who was red carded. Noel failed to beat substitute goalkeeper Anton Wyke, and even a man up, the junior Soca Warriors failed to take the initiative. Substitute Derrel Garcia scored the only goal of the second half with an explosive shot to make it 5-0 in the 83rd minute.
Earlier, T&T looked on course for a routine win when Michael Chavez netted a right-footer from within the penalty area, giving the home team an explosive start in just the third minute.
Noel put in the rebound, after goalkeeper Lockhart parried Cardines’ initial shot, for 2-0 in the 19th minute. Noel was then given a gift, scoring in an open goal in the 35th minute, after the Dominica goalie raced outside his penalty area and misjudged a bouncing ball. Two minutes later, Cardines converted a fourth, putting in a rebound.
(Teams)
Trinidad and Tobago (4-2-3-1): 1.Ailan Panton (GK); 5.Lyshaun Morris (17.Jaden Williams 59), 4.Cody Cooper (captain) (3.Russel Francois 64), 16.Akil Henry, 2.Duhrell Young; 8.Abayomi George (12.Jeremiah Cateau 57), 15.Josiah Ochoa; 7.Rio Cardines (11.Derrel Garcia 65), 13.Michael Chaves, 20.J’lon Matthews (19.Malachi Webb 46); 9.Larry Noel.
Unused substitutes: 18.Bryan Gafiuk (GK), 21.Makaya Taylor (GK), 6.Levi Jones, 10.Lindell Sween, 14.Tyrell Moore.
Coach: Brian Haynes
Dominica (4-3-3): 12.Ronny Lockhart (GK) [Red card 59]; 3.Malachi Labad, 5.Jaylan Jno Ville (2.Luke Itodo 75), 13.Lyan Edwards, 4.Laquante Alphonse; 7.Roosevelt Coipel (18.Pherel Esprit 66), 19.Yhan Timothy, 8.Dhamario Challenger; 10.Keeyan Thomas (captain) (16.Ajani Richards 75), 9.Tyreese Carbon (1.Anton Wyke [GK] 60), 14.Adriel Lawrence.
Unused substitutes: 21.Dwight Eloi (GK), 6.Jonathan Winston, 15.Dequan Abraham, 17.Jamo Talbert, 20.Shermal Clifton-John.
Suspended: 11.Fabio Drigo.
Coach: Malcolm Bertrand
Referee: Jefferson Escobar (Honduras)
Results
Group A: Nicaragua 8 British Virgin Islands 0; Cuba 2 British Virgin Islands 1
Group B: Guyana 2 El Salvador 2; Suriname 3 Antigua and Barbuda 2
Group C: Guatemala 3 Barbados 1; Aruba 1 Curacao 1
Group D: Canada 4 St Vincent & the Grenadines 0; Trinidad & Tobago 4 Dominica 0
Group E: Cayman Islands 1 Puerto Rico 1; Haiti 4 St Kitts & Nevis 0
Group F: Bermuda 2 Grenada 1; Jamaica 1 Martinique 0