Trinidad and Tobago’s senior women have found themselves in a must win situation against Caribbean rivals Guyana in Tuesday’s “final” CONCACAF group phase encounter after suffering a 6-0 defeat to Canada at the BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston on Sunday.
The match saw veteran Christine Sinclair go past Mia Hamm on the all-time international scorelist as her 63rd minute goal pushed her tally to 159 goals.
Head Coach Richard Hood made two changes to the starting team from Thursday’s 2-1 win over Guatemala, bringing in Danielle Blair and Victoria Swift for Ahkeela Mollon and Janine Francois. T&T, starting with a 4-2-3-1 formation, were outshot 2 to 22 by the Canadians
“It was a disappointing result and not the one we had hoped for. I have to give Canada a lot of credit. They are a strong tactical team and they did well,” Hood said after the loss which followed a 4-0 loss to the same opponents in Natal, Brazil in December.
“We had our plans and I think it worked for a while but we weren’t able to carry it on to the best of our ability.”
Skipper Maylee Attin-Johnson said Canada capitalized on T&T’s weakness on the flanks.
“I don’t think we competed the way we would have liked Canada gave us a lot of trouble down the wing and we didn’t have an answer for that. A lot of the goals came down the wing. It was difficult for us. We just did not compete the way we normally do and we are just looking to put this defeat behind us and get ready for Guyana on Tuesday,” Attin-Johnson said.
T&T held their own for the opening `15 minutes, keeping pace with the Canadians but then found themselves trailing in the 24th minute when Diana Matheson collected a ball from Josee Belanger and shot past Kimika Forbes from an inside right position as the T&T goalkeeper failed to protect her near post.
T&T’s Mariah Shade had a glorious opportunity to level the scores after T&T won possession inside Canada’s penalty area and the ball was played in for Shade but her shot was weak and too close to Erin McLeod in goal for Canada.
The Caribbean champions fell 2-0 behind a minute before half time Ashley Lawrence crossed for Melissa Tancredi to head home.
As the second half progressed, T&T lost shape and their legs began to dwindle. Canada took advantage and began to dominate proceedings.
Sinclair put her name on the scoresheet, punching the air to celebrate her landmark strike. She met a pass from Beckie and chose her spot before hitting past Forbes to put Canada 3-0 ahead on 63 minutes.
Nothing seemed to be going T&T’s way as they struggled to offer much in Canada’s danger area. Forward Kennya Cordner did a lot of tracking back to help her T&T on the defensive but she hardly got a sniff at goal. And winning goalscorer against Guatemala, Tasha St Louis, only had an 87th minute shot on goal.
Kadeisha Buchanan put Canada 4-0 ahead in the 66th minute with a right-footed effort. And Belanger would have two assists as she provided for Beckie to easily head in Canada’s 5th in the 75th and Jessie Flemming struck home the sixth goal nine minutes from the end.
“At the half we did try to correct some of the things we didn’t do well in the first half in terms of our tactical organization. We brought in Liana Hinds on the right flank and we brought in Kayla Taylor but the plan didn’t quite work out. I think we just weren’t up to it today.
“We do need to win on Tuesday. We looked at the Guyana game today and we observed some things that we can exploit and we hopefully can go into that game, create some opportunities and take them and win the game. Our ultimate goal coming into the tournament was qualifying for the second round and then whatever happens after that happens, and that is still our goal,” Hood added.
Attin-Johnson will also be hoping to lead her charges to an improved showing and into the semi-finals.
“We are the number one team in the Caribbean and for a reason. And that’s the mindset that we are going to go out there with on Tuesday, knowing that we are better than these girls in terms of our quality It’s a do or die situation and we have to give it our all and we will be prepared and ready to do so,” the T&T captain concluded.
Results
Canada 6 v Trinidad & Tobago 0
Matheson 24
Tancredi 44
Sinclair 63
Buchanan 66
Beckie 75
Fleming 79
Guyana 2 v Guatemala 1
El-Masri 71 Martinez 54
Heydorne 76
Teams
Trinidad & Tobago - 1.Kimika Forbes; 4.Danielle Blair (Yellow 36), 14.Karyn Forbes, 5.Arin King, 2.Jenelle Cunningham; 8.Victoria Swift (15.Liana Hinds 46th), 9.Maylee Attin-Johnson (captain) (7.Kayla Taylor 80th); 6.Khadidra Debesette, 10.Tasha St Louis, 19.Kennya Cordner; 3.Mariah Shade (16.Jo Marie Lewis 73rd).
Unused substitutes: 18.Shalette Alexander (GK),17.Anastasia Prescott. 20.Saundra Baron (GK), 13.Naomi Guerra, 12.Ahkeela Mollon, 11.Janine Francois.
Head Coach – Richard Hood.
Canada - 1.Erin McLeod; 3.Kadeisha Buchanan, 4.Shelina Zadorsky, 6.Deanne Rose (17.Jessie Fleming 67th), 8.Diana Matheson, 9.Josée Bélanger, 10.Ashley Lawrence (2.Allysha Chapman 56th), 11.Desiree Scott (Yellow 32), 13.Sophie Schmidt, 14.Melissa Tancredi (12.Christine Sinclair 61st), 19.Janine Beckie.
Head Coach – John Herdman.
Referee – Quetzalli Alvarado (Mexico).
Videos -
CWOQ 2016: Trinidad & Tobago vs Canada Highlights
Post-Match Press Conference - T&T Women vs Canada Olympic Qualifier