Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Women footballers pulled off a spirited comeback to secure their first three points of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying round when they came from a goal down to defeat Guatemala 2-1 at the BBVA Compass Stadium on Thursday.
The win was the first at international level for Richard Hood since he took over the head coach position but it came only after skipper Maylee Attin-Johnson and her teammates persisted for the 90 plus minutes. T&T dominated on goal attempts, having some 18 attempts on goal including four decent chances in the opening 15 minutes which were muffed by Cordner and Mariah Shade.
Guatemala eased themselves into the match after struggling to handle T&T’s pace and athleticism. And the call in their favour by American Referee Margaret Domka helped put them ahead. T&T defender Karyn Forbes picked the ball up with her hands on the right of the goal after camera replays clearly showed the ball going out of play but instead Domka, a referee at the FIFA 2015 Women’s World Cup, blew for a penalty which Martinez’ wrong sided Kimika Forbes to put the Central Americans ahead.
But T&T didn’t back down and continued to press on. Guatemala though were able to hold on their lead until the halftime break.
T&T head coach Richard Hood later spoke about the win, saying : “I was delighted with the victory but so happy about the performance. I think we could have been more clinical and we made the game hard for ourselves. But all in all I think the ladies deserved credit for coming back to earn the three points and hopefully now we can continue to build and look ahead to the next two games against Canada and Guyana.”
Team captain Attin-Johnson, who scored the winning penalty when T&T defeated Guatemala on a similar 2-1 scoreline in the 2015 World Cup qualifier, added: “It’s a good win for us to start the tournament. We knew we needed to start well and come out on top in our first game and now we can hopefully push on from here for the rest of the tournament.
CONCACAF 2016 Women’s Olympic qualifying Results
Group B Results
Trinidad and Tobago 2 v Guatemala 1
Cordner 74 Martinez 18-Pen
St Louis 78
Canada 5 v Guyana 0
Rose 25
Lawrence 29
Rose 40
Lawrence 46
Lawrence 48
Group A Results
Mexico 6 v Puerto Rico 0
Dominguez 18
Mendez 22
Dominguez 51
Rangel 54
Dominguez 89-Pen
Johnson 90
United States 5 v Costa Rica 0
Morgan 1
Lloyd 9-Pen
Dunn 15
Morgan 62
Press 83
Teams
Trinidad and Tobago: 1.Kimika Forbes; 6.Khadidra Debesette, 14.Karyn Forbes, 5.Arin King, 2.Jenelle Cunningham (16.Jo Marie Lewis 75th); 9.Maylee Attin-Johnson (capt), 11.Janine Francois (15.Liana Hinds 65th); 12.Ahkeela Mollon (7.Kayla Taylor 56th), 10.Tasha St Louis, 19.Kennya Cordner; 3.Mariah Shade.
Unused substitutes: 18.Shalette Alexander (GK), 20.Saundra Baron (GK), 4.Danielle Blair, 8.Victoria Swift, 13.Naomi Guerra, 17.Anastasia Prescott, Chevonne John.
Coach: Richard Hood.
Guatemala: 1.Yoselin Franco; 16.Kellin Mayen, 6.Gloria Aguilar (Yellow 90), 4.Christian Recinos (19.Andrea Rabanales 46th), 17.Didra Martinez, 14.Coralia Monterroso, 3.Marilyn Rivera, 8.Jennifer Munoz (Fabiola Gonzalez 82nd), 9.Ana Martinez, 10.Vivian Herrera, 18.Diana Barrera (Celeste Gatica 46th).
Coach: Benjamin Monterroso.
Referee: Margaret Domka (USA).
Videos: -
CWOQ 2016: Guatemala vs Trinidad & Tobago Highlights
Women Win - Check out this GameDay Video Recap of T&T's 2-1 win over Guatemala
Post Match Press Conference - T&T Women Victory over Guatemala
Guatemala vs Trinidad and Tobago Interviews
Standings.
Group A
P W D L F A Pts
Mexico 1 1 0 0 6 0 3
United States 1 1 0 0 5 0 3
Costa Rica 1 0 0 1 0 5 0
Puerto Rico 1 0 0 1 0 6 0
Group B
P W D L F A Pts
Canada 1 1 0 0 5 0 3
Trinidad and Tobago 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
Guatemala 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
Guyana 1 0 0 1 0 5 0
Upcoming Fixtures
(All kick offs given in TT time)
(February 13)
Costa Rica v Puerto Rico, 2.30 pm, Group A, Toyota Stadium, Frisco;
Mexico v United States, 5 pm, Group A, Toyota Stadium, Frisco;
(February 14)
Guyana v Guatemala, 2.30 pm, Group B, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston;
Trinidad and Tobago v Canada, 5 pm, Group B, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston;
(February 15)
Mexico v Costa Rica, 7 pm, Group A, Toyota Stadium, Frisco;
United States v Puerto Rico, 9.30 pm, Group A, Toyota Stadium, Frisco;
(February 16)
Trinidad and Tobago v Guyana, 7 pm, Group B, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston;
Canada v Guatemala, 9.30 pm, Group B, BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston.