Toussaint guides T&T past Haiti in Digicel Shield.
By: DigicelFootball.[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago made amends to their home fans after their crushing Digicel Caribbean Cup final defeat to Haiti as they saw off the Haitian Gold Cup side 1-0 in an exciting Digicel Shield semi final in Port of Spain to now go on and face Mexico on Wednesday night in the Digicel Shield Final.
The Soca Warriors, with several of its World Cup players who were not considered for selection looking on from the stands, started with serious intent and were obviously determined to try and make amends to their home fans for the defeat they suffered at the hands of the visitors in the final of the Digicel Caribbean Cup last January.
Top scorer from that tournament Gary Glasgow, who received his mobile phone prize for his highest goal tally in January from Digicel Trinidad’s sponsorship manager Marita Laurent, was very busy in and around the Haitian box and looked lively enough to try and add to his goal tally for the senior team.
Digicel Caribbean Cup champions Haiti who have played some tough opposition in the recent months and indeed more than held there own, showed their progression as they began to get more into the game and on 18 minutes were denied taking a one goal lead as Marvin Phillip extended himself well to get a hand to St. Jean Roland’s well placed shot.
T&T however looked the stronger in the first half and again showed their danger just before the whistle when Gary Glasgow and Darryl Roberts combined well only for the latter to be kept out by some solid defensive play from skipper Brunny Richard.
Haiti, with 4 changes to their opening side at half time and the coaches comments obviously still ringing in their ears, came out in the second half a more determined side.
Changing to a 4-3-3 formation the Digicel Cup champions came inches to scoring on two separate occasions as firstly Noel Fabrice was inches away from connecting with a lovely cross from Brunel and then Marcelin James saw his effort go narrowly wide.
T&T coach Wim Rijsbergen then looked to make a tactical change of his own and brought on 3 attacking players which as so often is the case, proved decisive from the Dutch master tactician.
On 76 minutes Captain Densil Theobald released substitute Andre Toussaint with a delicate defense splitting pass, and watched as the nimble striker calmly slotted the ball under the body of the onrushing Haitian keeper Gabart.
Haiti could find no way back and the new look soca warriors now confidently go forward to meet Mexico in the Digicel Shield final where a large home crowd are expected to see their local heroes one final time before they depart for their opening game in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
TEAMS
Trinidad & Tobago: - 22.Marvin Phillip, 20.Anthony Noreiga, 5.Keyeno Thomas, 6.Nickcolson Thomas, 2.Romauld Aguillera, 13.Christian Baptiste, 15.Andrei Pacheco, 16.Silvio Spann (8.Kerry Baptiste 67th), 18.Densill Theobald (capt), 12.Gary Glasgow (11.Andre Toussaint 67th), 14.Darryl Roberts (9.Errol McFarlane 67th).
Haiti: - Fenelon Gabart, Brunny Richard (capt), Gilles Frantz (Raymond Ednerson 83rd), Noncent Windsor, Guillamme Stephane, Fucien Brunel, Cadet Eliphene (Noel Fabrice 45th) Alexandre Boucicant (Romulus Turlien 45th), Marcelin James, Chery Mones (Jacques Jamil 45th), St Jean Roland (Germain Peter 45th).
Mexico edge Vincy on penaltiesHasely Crawford Stadium, Trinidad: Mexico opened the Digicel Shield with a very strong performance as they outclassed St Vincent and the Grenadines but in the end only came through courtesy of a penalty shoot out win after a goal less stalemate.
After a very bright opening Mexico looked as if they may jump into an early lead with lone striker Ever Guzman looking increasingly dangerous as he linked play with Diego Campos to good effect. In fact Guzman thought he had opened the scoring mid way through the first half but his effort was ruled out after Campos had strayed into an offside position.
With Mexico and, in particular, Jehu Chipas dominating the midfield, SVG barely threatened the net protected by Arias and looked to hold the Mexicans to parity as half time drew closer.
The second half followed much the same vein as the first and Guzman again should have done better with his effort as he followed up on a shot by substitute Cesar Vrueta that was well parried by keeper McDougall.
McDougall came to SVG’s rescue on 80 minutes when he pulled off a superb one handed save at full stretch to tip Alan Zamora’s goal bound effort wide of the post and out for a corner.
SVG remained resolute in defense and showed further evidence why they progressed to the final stages of the Digicel Caribbean Cup after a well organized solid defensive display.
So, after 90 minutes failed to separate the sides, we entered into the dreaded penalty shoot out where ironically both teams seemed to find their shooting boots with an unrelenting 15 goal scoring sequence until finally we had one shot miss target with SVG failing to convert.
TEAMS:
Mexico Pan American Squad: - Sergio Arias, Alejandro Berber, Hugo Ayala (capt), Efrain Velarde , Israel Vrgas (Joadvin Martinez 60th), Jehu Chiapas, Ever Guzman, Diego Campos (Cesar Vrueta 63rd), Oscar Recio, Rodolfo Decreal (Alain Zamora 74th), Osyaldo Castaneda.
St Vincent & the Grenadines: - Winslow McDougall (Melvin Andrews 93rd), Richard Hayde, Norrel George (Romano Snagg 76th), Cornelius Stewart (Thadeus Sam 81st), Mellon Prescott, Rafeek Francis (Kevin Creese 86th), Darren Francis (capt), Emerald George (Damol Francis 65th), Glenford Ashton, Jabneel Springer, Markneil Lewis.
Rijsbergen to mix it up.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF). National Senior team head coach Wim Rijsbergen says he will possibly change his starting team for Wednesdays Digicel Shield final against Mexico’s Pan American team as he seeks to give his 22 players a “fair” chance in the build up to the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Rijsbergen relayed this following T&T’s 1-0 win over Haiti at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday night. The win was witnessed by several of the players currently excluded from the Gold Cup team because of an ongoing impasse with the Federation. The likes of Brent Sancho, Cornell Glen, Jason Scotland, Carlos Edwards, Stern John, Marvin Andrews, Dennis Lawrence and Kelvin Jack were all present.
“If you saw the last part we played for the Digicel Cup an the team today it was a completely different team. We had eight different guys on the field for starting line up today and for the next game we have some guys we will try before going to Honduras and the Gold Cup,” Rijsbergen said after the match.
“On the other hand the group we have now want to win the next game of course and we don’t have a lot of time to prepare this team but the guys are in good spirits and as you saw today they tried very hard. Of course there is also room for improvement, but I was satisfied with the performance and I told the guys go as far as they can.”
He was impressed by the performance of his second half substitutes in particular Andre Toussaint and Errol McFarlane.
“We have very good subs and they finished the game. It was a good goal by Toussaint … McFarlane came in and did a good job. We see all the guys ready to be working to be in the starting line up for the Gold Cup and that’s what we are here for.”
And he wasn’t surprised that a T&T team considered second string for obvious reasons could pull off a win over the Haitians.
“I have been working with the guys everyday and if you know Haiti they are a tough opponent …they are a physical and well prepared team, I was happy. We did a lot of work in a couple days and some of these guys are still not hundred percent. They are working very hard and we try to keep high pace in passing, I was satisfied with the performance even though we did make some mistakes.
“Maybe I will use some other guys to start the next game just to give everybody a fair chance. I explained to the boys that we are looking for the best team,” added Rijsbergen who reminded everyone that the current Digicel Shield and even the Gold Cup was still just part of the bigger picture which is getting a team in tune for the 2010 World Cup qualification bid. T&T takes on Guatemala, El Salvador and United States in the Gold Cup from June 6-24.
Toussaint's timely return.
Wim's Babes creep past Haiti.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express)Andre Toussaint taught Trinidad and Tobago 's Holland-born coach Wim Rijsbergen a thing or two about the dreaded "Caribbean time".
The 25-year-old Vibe CT 105 W. Connection striker raised Rijsbergen's ire by missing a connecting flight from London to Vienna on international duty last November and was subsequently ignored for the country's next seven internationals.
It was arguably only the skilful striker's encouraging performances with Connection in February's CONCACAF Champions' Cup quarter-final clash against Mexican outfit, Chivas Guadalajara, that softened the Dutchman's resolve.
Toussaint might be poor at time-keeping but he sure knows how to say sorry.
On March 24, Toussaint grabbed the equaliser on his first game back to the international fold in a 2-2 draw away to Guadeloupe and the dreadlocked attacker spared Rijsbergen's blushes on Monday evening, too.
This time, he was introduced fashionably late as a substitute and earned the "Soca Warriors" a 1-0 win over Caribbean champs, Haiti , with a predatory finish at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The Digicel Shield four-nation invitational tournament result could prove a vital injection of belief in a team buffeted by off-field controversies since their historic appearance at the 2006 Germany World Cup.
Monday's win snapped a four-game winless streak for Rijsbergen and was just the second shut-out from 13 matches for the national coach and ex-Holland World Cup defender. All of Trinidad and Tobago 's six victories during that period came in Port of Spain.
As a dozen T&T World Cup players looked on from the stands in Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) tops-a reminder of the ongoing battle between players and administrators over World Cup bonuses-the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) must have been desperate for some home comfort and an indication that the present side is worthy of the red, black and white strip.
Both parties might have left the stadium feeling somewhat vindicated.
Rijsbergen's "Babes"-captain Densill Theobald and Silvio Spann were the only authentic Warriors from the class of 2006-kept the ball well at times and the coach could point to the win as progress from the January Caribbean Cup when they lost 2-1 to Haiti in the final.
But Trinidad and Tobago lacked penetration down either flank and were sometimes outmuscled in central midfield, while neither starting striker managed much possession in the attacking third for most of the 90 minutes.
There were heartening performances from United Petrotrin midfield workhorse Romauld Aguilera, Defence Force's versatile left sided player Christian Baptiste and lanky Joe Public stopper Anthony Noriega, but little to leave your seat for until Toussaint's introduction.
Theobald challenged for possession, 30 yards from the Haitian goal, and stabbed the ball towards Toussaint who allowed the sphere to roll past him before he finished with a precise strike though the legs of goalkeeper Gabart Fenelon.
Toussaint, who has a promising four goals from five international starts and four substitute appearances, is likely to start today as Rijsbergen allows some other squad members a chance to shine against the Mexico under-23 squad. He should use his time wisely.
STRUGGLE: Trinidad and Tobago striker Andre Toussaint, centre, battles with Haitian defender Marcelin James in the Digicel Shield semi-final on Monday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. T&T won 1-0 on a Toussaint goal and will now meet Mexico's Under-23 team in the final tonight at the same venue.
