Bravery often brings its own rewards, but for the Trinidad and Tobago Under-15 football girls, that reward could only be silver as they lost their Caribbean Football Union Girls Invitational final 3-2 at the feet of Jamaica yesterday.
Their lapses at the back gave them a mountain only slightly too high to scale, as at the end, a fightback proved just too late to change their fortunes. Jamaica were led by a double from Shenika Williams, while Teola Caines also left her mark on the scoreline to complete a revenge victory, after the T&T Under-16 boys blanked their Reggae counterparts 3-1 in Friday's semi-final. Once again, Jo-Marie Lewis found the target for T&T, while Kayla Taylor hit the net late to give T&T hope after a two-goal deficit.
The match was taken away from T&T within just four minutes, when Williams and Caines scored against the run of play. Having watched Lewis equalise for T&T in the 51st minute with neat precision and control, Williams outmuscled T&T captain Rehana Omardeen on the right, and found the far post two minutes later. Then in the 57th, it was 3-1 Jamaica, as Caines, allowed room on the left of the penalty area, slammed home at an unmanned near post.
Jamaica's scare came in the 71st when Lewis was brought down by a defender at the edge of the area, with the goalkeeper already beaten and the goalmouth vulnerable. The result was a free-kick at the edge of the 18-metre box, and an automatic red card-mistakenly for the goalkeeper instead.
Taylor stood up and blasted home the goal of the game, planting her free-kick sweetly into the "vee", but with five minutes of stoppage time beckoning, T&T still could not find the levelling item.
In the opening half, the T&T girls learned the first lesson of accuracy: miss the mark and pay for it. Marlique Asson was thwarted by Jamaican defender Shauntae Brown, en route to open goal, then Omardeen missed out as well in the fourth.
Twice in the opening seven minutes, Jamaican goalkeeper Sherway Henry was found wanting when asked to come out to handle one-on-one situations, but last minute salvation would come from the feet of her defenders. Henry did, however, rescue her team on the second attempt, after dropping a dangerous Khadidra Debisette cross.
Jamaica's first good chance came in the 23rd, but goalie Linfah Jones's late leap averted Shenika Williams's threat. T&T just kept charging at the Jamaican defence, Taylor's good long range effort from about 23 metres landing just over the crossbar, and on 33 minutes, Patrice Campbell's weak shot was muffed by Henry, but without consequence.
Jamaica showed them what to do with a chance a minute into first half stoppage time. Williams ran onto a ball provided by Shanise Foster on the left, and threaded into the near post. Jones scrambled twice to clear, but in vain. In the end, the title went to Jamaica, but the greatest ovation went to the teary-eyed girls from the home fans. They almost got there, but not quite.
Final
Jamaica 3 (Shenika Williams 40, 56, Tesla Caines 53) v T&T 2 (Jo-Marie Williams 11, Keila Taylor 72-pen).