Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 footballers bounced back from last week’s heavy defeat to pull off a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Arnhem professional outfit FC Omniworld in a training encounter at Papendal on Saturday morning.
Playing under relatively favourable conditions with the sun out, skipper Leston Paul and his charges produced a commanding performance against a team comprising of Under 17 and Under 16 players which would have at least given them and head coach Anton Corneal somewhat of a confidence bolster before heading off to Korea on Sunday.
Goals by forward Daniel Joseph (5th minute), Stephen Knox (42nd and 65th), Stephan Campbell (70th) and Kevin Molino in the 74th minute gave T&T’s U-17s the much needed win.
Corneal made two changes to the starting team from the one which lost 6-2 to De Graafschap on Tuesday, starting with goalie Glenroy Samuel and replacing Molino with midfielder Chike Sullivan.
The win was satisfying for Corneal but he preferred to remain focused, saying that it was nothing more than a practice win.
“It was a good chance for us to play and sharpen up on some aspects of the game particularly in the scoring department. We created chances and put them away and the good thing was that they were not given to us. The team made us work but of course it was not Ghana, Germany or Colombia we were playing against and we will ensure that the players are well aware of that. All in all it was a pretty good note to end the trip on before heading off to Korea,” Corneal told TTFF Media after the win.
The team later headed off to see Vitesse Arnhem and Athletico Bilbao in a preseason encounter on Saturday evening at the Gelredoma. The game ended prematurely with ten minutes to go because of a brawl between the both sides with Bilbao ahead 1-0.
On the field of play, T&T looked a more compose outfit as skipper Leston Paul marshaled the middle and the front men executed well showing much more drive than they had in the previous encounter. And whenever Omniworld threatened on the offensive, T&T’s starting backline stood firm.
The opening goal came in T&T’s first real burst forward with Knox knocking one down from the left for Joseph who was composed and picked his spot, volleying into the left side of the net.
US-born forward Aaron Maund would have T&T’s next chance which he hit over after being found by a vibrant Paul just outside the penalty box. Then in the 32nd minute after winger Micah Lewis moved inside two defenders, Paul collected on the edge but swung his effort over bar.
T&T continued to create openings. Chike Sullivan on one occasion couldn’t connect on time with his left side free kick whipped in by defender Akeem Adams in the 25th.
Two minutes later, Joseph and Knox combined well with Joseph picking up the return ball inside the area once again but managed only to put the ball wide of the far post.
Omniworld eventually had its first corner in the 33rd minute but could make nothing more of it.
Then just before the break, Knox reassured Corneal of his finishing ability when he pounced on a loose ball atop the area and kept his calm under a late rush by the defenders before drilling his shot into the left of the goal for T&T’s second goal.
Corneal made five changes at the interval, replacing Maund with Stephan Campbell, Joseph with Molino, Daneil Cyrus with Ryan O’Neil, Robert Primus with Sheldon Bateau and goalie Samuel with Jesse Fullerton.
Three minutes into the half, Jean Luc Rochford broke down the right flank and sent in a deep cross for Knox but his well timed header on the far post was saved low by goalkeeper Jochem Smeele. Midfielder Sean De Silva came on for Sullivan in the 63rd and played a part in T&T’s third goal a couple minutes later. Some good hustling on his part allowed him to make room for himself on the right and after he cut back to leave his man going, he sent a perfectly measured left footed cross on the far post for Knox to push past the goalie for goal number three.
Corneal made further changes in the 69th minute with Brenton Balbosa, Marcus Joseph and Aubrey David coming on for Paul, Adams and Knox. And with that T&T kept the pressure on, defending when they needed to and creating the openings.
Campbell made his presence felt with a thunderous free kick from 20 yards out which flew into the right of the goal to push T&T 4-0 ahead. And after Molino hit over from close range he made amends when he followed up to meet Joseph’s ball and sent a scorcher to the right of the goalie.
T&T’s third choice ‘keeper Kern Cesar got some playing time replacing Fullerton and had to go low to stop Almeyda Da Costa’s effort.
In the closing 15 minutes Omniworld’s Mitchell Smith was sent off for a second bookable offense but Omniworld were allowed to send in a replacement player on T&T’s request. De Silva almost made it a handful near the end when his free kick came off the wall before his one time rebound crack was saved low by the Omniworld custodian.
The members of the team, who leave for Korea at 3:30pm (9:30am T&T time) on Sunday, also took a decision to put funds together to assist in the funding of a trip to Korea for the Finals for Oswald Davis, who served as assistant manager of the team during the Finals. Previously the Ministry of Sport announced at a press conference that they would fit the bill to send Davis to Korea before relaying this past week that it was now unable to follow through. On Saturday morning The members of staff and players pledged some of their personal and out of pocket allowance which amounted to $22,000 to assist in the cost of Davis’ trip.