Heartbreaker...Italy edge ‘Young Warriors’ in Cairo contest

When Juma Clarence collected and slapped home past Italian goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo on 62 minutes, T&T were left scenting something from the affair as the crowd got behind them and they began to press the Italians for long periods.

But it was not to be and there were no favours for the boys from T&T neither as Solomon Islands assistant referee Matthew Taro saw what nobody else did when he raised his flag to deny T&T an opening goal in the 31st minute when Robert Primus’ sliding effort from a corner beat Fiorillo on its way into the net.

The Italians never appealed and T&T celebrated but then referee Peter O Leary of New Zealand, after signaling the goal, ran towards his assistant for confirmation of his call and then disallowed the goal. Even the Italians appeared somewhat surprised by the decision.

It didn’t get better for the young “Soca Warriors” as Michaelangelo Arbetazzi headed past Glenroy Samuel from  left side corner which T&T were slow in reacting to in the 39th minute.

T&T, with Kevin Molino and Juma Clarence coming into the starting team, made a better start than they did against Egypt and never looked like being toppled over by the higher rated and more respected Italians.

Jake Thomson made a superb goaline clearance with his head in the 16th minute to deny Andre Mazzarani but the English-born was a bit off with his deliveries and was later replaced by Qian Grosvenor as Vranes opted for more firepower upfront in the later stages

T&T settled more as the game progressed making their opponents realise that they were up against a team that had no intentions of giving up points.

Just before the break Khaleem Hyland, playing in his more accustomed midfield role, hit a left footer over bar.

Disappointed at the half, T&T never buckled and Leston Paul and his troops continued to push on. Gay should have done better though when the ball fell perfectly for him in the box but he went for power instead of placement and could only look on in agony as his effort crashed off the underside of the crossbar.

T&T were rewarded for their persistence as Clarence took his goal well when he capitalized on Matteo Gentile’s mis-clearance, beating the latter before clinically finishing to level the scores at one apiece.

The Caribbean team got life from the goal and they got the majority of the fans behind them at this stage. Paul had a low effort saved and Gay also sent a glancing header wide in the 75th minute. Hyland also headed over bar with nine minutes left on the clock.

But the Italians also stayed in the game, remaining organized and penetrating when they could. And they made T&T pay with twelve minutes left . A bad cross field ball by Clarence was picked up and Mattia Mustacchio made the run before putting the ball into the box for Silvano Raggio to power past a hapless Samuel for the winner.

There’s saying in the game that sometimes you play against 12 and Paul and company could not be blamed for feeling this way as the look of dejection filled the T&T dressing room after the match. Vranes held back his anger.

“I’m not angry but I am proud of our display,” he told TTFF Media. “ I don’t think we just fought this time I think we played a good game and we deserved a better result.

We came to play games to see where are right now and I think we have a clear indication. We have seen that can play well and this is positive for the future. But we have our work to do still if intend to finish games with better results.

“I don’t want to say that we were cheated the first goal but again we got punished for our mistakes. I am proud of the effort from the players. We will fight until the end and we have one more game. We will see how we go from here. Maybe if our chances of advancing are over then I can give some other players the chance to play the next game because they all deserve it.”

Reflecting on T&T’s disallowed first half goal, Vranes added that he felt then that T&T needed to keep their heads up and was somewhat pleased that they did in fact keep on pressing.

“I was thinking that we have to keep pressing them after they took away our first goal. I am disappointed to lose this way to Italy especially to see how they were celebrating as if they won the World Cup,” Vranes said.

Clarence was obviously the most disappointed of the lot.

“It was good to get my first goal at this level but maybe we could have done better and maybe I could have done better. But we have to take the experience because this is where you learn the hard way.”

From the moment Clarence played the ball across the field, he went on bended knees, recognizing that his mistake could turn out costly.

“We have another game to go and hopefully we can make up for it,” he said.

At the FIFA post game press conference, several reporters, including one Italian, asked how the team would cope with their misfortune in the match. Vranes would only smile and promise a reversed result if there were to be a rematch.

But they would no doubt take note later on that they had just produced one of the more memorable performances by any T&T team in a FIFA World Cup and could rank up there with T&T’s 0-0 draw with Sweden in Germany 2006.

It came at a different level but the reaction of the media in the mix zone and post game conference afterwards suggested that the so called minnows had left another good impression.

Italy’ head coach Francesco Rocca was a relieved man.

I'm very happy with my team and with the result. Trinidad and Tobago were a tough team to play against today They were very strong physically and  they had some strong players. We improved as the game progressed and managed to keep them under pressure for most of the match.  I was happy that we got the victory today,” Rocca said.

T&T will play their final Group A encounter against Paraguay on Thursday.

SCORING SUMMARY

Italy:
Michelangelo ALBERTAZZI (39')
Silvano RAGGIO (78')

Trinidad & Tobago:
Juma CLARENCE (67')

TEAMS

Italy:
1. Vincenzo FIORILLO (capt.), 3. Antonio MAZZOTTA, 4. Matteo GENTILI, 5. Michelangelo ALBERTAZZI, 8. Andrea MAZZARANI, 10. Fabio SCIACCA (Marco ROMIZI 69'), 11. Gianvito MISURACA (Claudio DELLA PENNA 82'), 13. Francesco BINI, 16. Giacomo BONAVENTURA (Marco CALDERONI 59'), 17. Mattia MUSTACCHIO, 18. Silvano RAGGIO

Substitutes:
12. Andrea GASPARRI, 21. Antonio PICCOLO, 2. Alessandro CRESCENZI, 6. Marco CALDERONI, 7. Claudio DELLA PENNA, 9. Umberto EUSEPI, 14. Matteo BRUSCAGIN, 15. Vasco REGINI, 19. Marco ROMIZI, 20. Piergiuseppe MARITATO

Coach: Francesco ROCCA (ITA)

Trinidad & Tobago:
1. Glenroy SAMUEL, 5. Akeem ADAMS (Aubrey DAVID 65'), 6. Leston PAUL, 7. Kevin MOLINO (Marcus JOSEPH 56'), 9. Jamal GAY, 11. Khaleem HYLAND, 12. Robert PRIMUS, 13. Juma CLARENCE, 15. Uriah BENTICK, 18. Jake THOMSON (Qian GROSVENOR 82'), 19. Daniel CYRUS

Substitutes:
20. Andre MARCHAN, 21. Jesse FULLERTON, 2. Aubrey DAVID, 3. Curtis GONZALES, 4. Sheldon BATEAU, 8. Sean DE SILVA, 10. Qian GROSVENOR, 14. Jean Luc ROCHFORD, 16. Marcus JOSEPH, 17. Mekeil WILLIAMS

Coach: Zoran VRANES (SRB)

OFFICIALS

Referee: Peter O LEARY (NZL)
Assistant Referee 1: Brent BEST (NZL)
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew TARO (SOL)
Fourth official: Alberto UNDIANO (ESP)
Match Commissioner: Hamad BROOK (UAE)

STATISTICS

YELLOW CARDS:

Italy:
10. Fabio SCIACCA (2')
16. Giacomo BONAVENTURA (30')
19. Marco ROMIZI (86')

Trinidad & Tobago:
5. Akeem ADAMS (12')
9. Jamal GAY (70')
6. Leston PAUL (87')

Azzurrini edge brave T&T.
By: Fifa.Com

Italy boosted their hopes of a place in the last 16 with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago in Cairo International Stadium. Michelangelo Arbertazzi and Silvano Raggio scored the vital goals as the valiant Soca Warriors succumbed to a defeat that leaves their Egypt 2009 ambtions hanging by a thread.

The Italians were on top for the bulk of the first half and, with 16 minutes played, it took a heroic goal-line clearance from Jake Thomson to deny them an opener. Andrea Mazzarani was already wheeling away in celebration in anticipation of his superbly struck volley hitting the net when Thomson leapt up on the line to head the ball clear.

Playmaker Mazzarani has emerged as arguably the Italians' most influential player in Egypt and, 12 minutes later, he went close again with an audacious effort from a 35-yard free-kick that had the T&T keeper - who was expecting a cross - scrambling back to tip over.

Yet although the Europeans had the edge, the Caribbean hopefuls weren't without their moments at the other end, and Robert Primus thought he had opened the scoring midway through the first half only to have his celebrations curtailed by the assistant referee's flag. Thing were about to get worse for T&T too because, with six minutes of the first half remaining, they fell behind, Michelangelo Arbertazzi stealing in unmarked on Mazzarani's corner and directing a downward header past the helpless Glenroy Samuel.

Zoran Vranes' side refused to buckle, however, and came agonisingly close to equalising six minutes into the second half when Jamael Gay fired in a shot that had the keeper beaten but rebounded back off the underside of the crossbar. Nevertheless, their perseverance was rewarded 11 minutes later when Matteo Gentile's disastrous attempted clearance sent the ball straight to the feet of Juma Clarence. Hardly able to believe his luck, the T&T forward took full advantage, side-stepping the hapless Gentile before rifling a low right-foot shot into the net from 14 yards.

It looked like we had a upset on our hands at this stage, but Gli Azzurrini refused to accept their fate and duly snatched the points with 12 minutes remaining. Mattia Mustacchio was the goal's architect with a superb run and cross, and Silvano Raggio obliged with a finish of the highest quality, unleashing a terrific left-foot shot to send the ball flashing into the net from the edge of the box.