TRINIDAD and Tobago’s women footballers kept their chances of securing the Gold Medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Guatemala in Venezuela yesterday.
Maylee Attin Johnson was the toast of the TT players as she grabbed an 88th minute winner to push her team to nine points from four matches heading into their last outing against Haiti tomorrow.
The Haitians, with four points from two matches, meantime were scheduled to meet hosts Venezuela in the second match yesterday. The Venezuelans are also locked on nine points with TT and face Puerto Rico in their final fixture tomorrow.
It means that once the hosts and Haiti draw or Haiti fail to get three points, TT will be guaranteed a silver medal and will play for the gold tomorrow as they currently hold a better goal difference than the
Venezuelans. TT went behind in the fourth minute when Daniella Mendez headed home but they fought back to get the equaliser through Kennya Cordner in the 34th on an assist by Johnson. Cordner is the tournament topscorer with four goals.
TT then grabbed a 2-1 lead through Karyn Forbes with a well-taken free kick atop the area a minute from half time. But the Guatemalans hit back and equalised through Katherine Ramo in the 46th minute from the free kick spot.
Both teams battled it out in search of a winner which came in the 88th minute when substitute Tiana Bateau hit a 30-metre drive which crashed against the upright and Johnson was on spot to comfortably nail the rebound for the eventual winner.
“It was a really hard-fought victory for us this evening and we are hoping to remain with a chance of the gold on Sunday. The match was evenly balanced for long periods but we showed a lot of grit and came away with a well deserved win in the end.
I am really happy for the players as it’s also putting us in good shape for the CONCACAF Gold Cup,” Shabazz said after the win. TT face Haiti in their final outing today.