T&T advance to women's gold cup.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica secured their berths in the CONCACAF Gold Cup when they claimed 7-0 and 3-0 victories respectively over Dominican Republic and Haiti in the final set of group matches in the Caribbean Football Union final round at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar on Sunday.
With all four teams going into the games with a chance of qualification, it was expected that the two games would be keenly contested ones but the eventual winners both showed their class over their respective opposition. Those two teams will now battle in the six-team CONCACAF Gold Cup in November from which the top two teams will advance to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007 and the third place finisher meeting in a playoff with an Asian nation for the third spot.
T&T had more goals to celebrate and had only themselves to blame for not netting more as the Dominican women tried in vain to match the homesters.
T&T’s Tasha St Louis was the pick of the scorers with a hattrick. She had earlier missed the easiest of chances when hitting over bar from point blank range in the 3rd minute.
Leslie Ann James and Aveann Douglas were also guilty of missing clear cut chances for T&T in the early stages before St Louis made sure that T&T took the lead. Some poor defensive work allowed her to lob the advancing Heidy Tejeda in the 10th minute.
Three minutes later, T&T seized the advantage as James made up for her earlier miss by rifling her shot past the outstretched Tejeda for a 2-0 lead.
From then on, Dominican Republic were left chasing and whatever little they offered in attack was easily broken up by the reliable T&T back line of Anastasia Prescott, Katrina Meyer, Patrice Superville and Ayanna Russell.
With a 2-0 deficit not looking too bad going into the half time break, it quickly turned worse for Dominican Republic when Dernelle Mascall nailed home from close range for a 3-0 lead at the break.
The game continued similarly in the second half. A foul on Douglas allowed St Louis to convert the resulting penalty in the 53rd minute and she then got her hattrick in similar fashion in the 57th minute following handle ball offense.
It got even worse for the visitors in the 68th minute when Yolanda Valerio was sent off for a rash tackle on St Louis which forced her to leave the game with an injury. Russell this time made sure from the penalty spot.
The second half introduction of the T&T 2005 Women “Player of the Year” Kennya Cordner didn’t make it any easier for the Spanish-speaking Dominicans and she caused more misery for them when she controlled and neatly beat her defender before clinically chipping the goalie for a 7-0 lead on 71 minutes.
In the earlier affair, Haiti put up a better fight against the Jamaicans but were outdone in the second half against the more organized Reggae Girls.
Jamaica got a gifted first goal in the 38th minute when a feeble low attempt by Shanique Mitchell went straight through goalkeeper Ednye Limage. Haiti’s Wisline Dolce had their best attempt near the interval with a flick on header went inches over bar.
Jamaica doubled their advantage in the 48th minute when a right side free kick by Stacy Ann Johnson fell perfectly for an unmarked Venicia Reid to slot home from close range. Substitute Shakira Duncan then sealed the victory with a close range strike in the 89th minute.
Following the end of proceedings, T&T’s St Louis walked away with a majority of awards, taking the “Player of the Match”, the leading goalscorer with five goals and the Most Valuable Player accolade. Bermuda took home the fair play trophy.
T&T Starting Team.
1.Alexis Vaughn, 2.Ayanna Russell, 6.Leslie Ann James, 15.Micah Mahabirsingh, Patrice Superville, 10.Tasha St Louis, 11.Aveann Douglas, 7.Niasha Reyes, 4.Katrina Meyer, 5.Nadia James, 9.Dernelle Mascall.
Subs
19.Kennya Cordner, 3.Anastasia Prescott, 18.Jinelle Nedd, 21.Gail Ann Thomas.
Results
T&T 7 (Tasha St Louis 10th, 53rd-pen, 57th, Leslie Ann James 13th, Dernelle Mascall 45th, Ayana Russell 68th-pen, Kennya Cordner 71st) v Dominican Republic 0.
Jamaica 3 (Shanique Mitchell 38th, Venicia Reid 48th, Shakira Duncan 89th) v Haiti 0.
