TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Under-23 football team are in desperate need of a victory against Suriname today in the Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) Olympic Qualifiers if they are to be among the top two teams to advance to the CONCACAF final round.
After an impressive 1-1 display with regional powerhouse Cuba in their opening game, the TT men slumped to a disappointing 5-2 defeat to host St Kitts/Nevis on Saturday evening.
The national team must now beat the Surinamese and hope the Cubans pull off a win against St Kitts and Nevis.
The Cubans lead the group with four points with both St Kitts/Nevis and Suriname on three points apiece. TT are on just one point from the Cuba tie.
However, a win would push TT to four points and a win for Cuba will see them maintain their top spot in the group with TT earning the second position on four points.
Eve made three changes to his starting team from the one that drew 1-1 with Cuba on Thursday. Goalkeeper Andre Marchan was replaced by Glenroy Samuel while he brought in two forwards in Shahdon Winchester and Jerrel Britto at the expense of midfielders Sean De Silva and Jayson Joseph. Forward Jamal Gay also kept his spot in the starting team.
It was the host who seized the initiative, however, with a hat-trick from their UK-based midfielder Romaine Sawyers and other goals from Javiem Blachette and Akiel Grier while Trinidad and Tobago’s goals came from Shahdon Winchester and midfielder Sean De Silva.
St Kitts went ahead through Javiem Blachette but Winchester scored the equaliser in the 27th minute with a powerful right-footed shot as both teams went into the interval level.
Sawyer then went to work in the second period with three goals to swing the tie in St Kitts favour and sent the home supporters wild with delight.
De Silva pulled one back, pouncing on a poor clearance to drill his shot into the back of the net but it was too late as St Kitts took a giant step, advancing to the next round of qualifiers.
After the game, national coach Angus Eve said his troops never found their rhythm in the encounter.
“I thought we raised our intensity well against Cuba and not taking anything away from the other teams but Cuba were supposed to be the best team in the zone and we played well against them to come away with a result and should have won that game. Tonight we did not execute well. Our marking and tracking in midfield and defence were poor.
“None of their goals were really plays with any build ups as such. They had two well-taken shots and we never closed them down. It just seems that our energy level wasn’t there and they were right up for the match” Eve said.
Eve, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the youth and senior levels, said his teams will have to bounce back from a defeat for the first time and it will be a true test of their character.
He hinted that his players may be tired and could force him to have to tinker with the lineup for today’s crucial encounter.
“I have not come down (hard) on them because we still have a final game to play. For the past year we’ve been playing at a high level and there must be a time when a team drops and unfortunately it happened against St Kitts/Nevis.
The challenge now is to motivate these guys and get them back into the right frame of mind. Our players are a bit fatigued and I will make changes to the starting team. I wouldn’t have brought players here if I didn’t think they were capable at this level. Hopefully we will be more hungry and show that pride in the national shirt and go out there and win the game by a couple goals or more to put some pressure on the second game today” Eve said.
Source: www.newsday.co.tt