Soca Warriors on right path to America.
By: Flex Mohammed.[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago gave a much more improved display from their opening tie with Barbados beating Martinique 5-1 and in the process Martinique is now officially eliminated from the 2007 Gold Cup. Revenge on the Soca Warriors part ? maybe, as Martinique were the one's who eliminated T&T from the 2002 Gold Cup. In the first game of the double header played at the Hasley Crawford Stadium Haiti got the better of Barbados 2-0 and has qualified for the 2007 Gold Cup, T&T sits second while Barbados occupies third in the Sedley Joseph Group.
Despite sitting comfortable with goal difference over Barbados, T&T will still have to go out and play for either a tie or a win in their last game against the mighty Haitians. The game carded for Wednesday as Digicel Cup action continues at the Hasley Crawford Stadium. A tie with Haiti would see Trinidad and Tobago through to the 2007 Gold Cup and still have a chance to compete for the Digicel Cup crown and re-claim their Caribbean title.
Liberty University striker Darryl Roberts who would get his first start of the tournament in place of MLS striker Scott Sealy who had a poor first game against Barbados got T&T on the score sheet from a free kick as early as the third minute. Martinique as expected did not sit back and in the 16th minute they got the equalizing goal but things would get worst for them when it appeared one of their players handled a ball inside the penalty box leaving the Panamanian referee no choice but to dish out two cards, one red and one yellow. Now Martinique down 10-men was in for a long night, Joe Public striker Gary Glasgow would step up to take the resulting penalty only for Martinique keeper Eddy Heurlie to save his poor shot.
By then T&T knew they would have to dig deep into themselves to come up with a win and it came in the 37th minute T&T got the go ahead goal when San Juan Jabloteh talented midfielder Kerry Baptiste blasted it into the net sending the host 2-1 at the half. It would take T&T just one minute to pick up where they left off, this time Gary Glasgow would make amends for his first half miss in the 47th minute, obviously the striker did not let the penalty miss affect his play. Martinique pilled on the pressure and did not sit back, they fought tooth and nail, but Kerry Baptiste who was having a field day added more fuel to the burning Martinique team, he converted a penalty in the 77th before Glasgow seal the deal in the 83rd minute.
On behalf on the Soca Warriors Online, we would like to congratulate the coaching staff and players of the Trinidad and Tobago national football team. We are not through yet, but we have confidence in you guys, keep up the good work.
T&T Line-Up
1.Jan Michael Williams, 2.Dwayne Jack, 5.Osei Telesford, 16.Seon Power (3.Makan Hislop 80th), 17.Nigel Daniel, 6.Leslie Fitzpatrick, 10.Kerwyn Jemmott (13.Hayden Tinto 66th), 14.Kerry Baptiste, Densill Theobald (capt), 11.Darryl Roberts (20.Joel Bailey 60th), 12.Gary Glasgow.
Martinique Line-Up
Eddy Heurlie, Patrick Percin (capt), Loan Deluge, Wilfrid Thalien, Jose Goron (Sebastien Lugiery 77th), Daniel Herelle, Willy Padolly, Jean Victor Lavril (Charles Coridon 46th), Xavier Bullet (Johan Clementia 59th), Steve Gustan, Audrick Linord.
Trinidad & Tobago v Martinique
5 Goals 1
12 Shots on Target 4
3 Offsides 0
2 Corners 4
20 Fouls 12
1 Yellow Cards 5
0 Red Cards 1
Soca Warriors out Martinique's lights.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago virtually secured a spot in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup when they comprehensively defeated a persistent Martinique 5-1 on day three of the Digicel Caribbean Cup at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday evening.
Playing before a fervent home crowd of around 5,000 fans, T&T gave a polished performance, scoring goals on either side of the half as they moved to four points, second in the group behind Haiti which earlier defeated Barbados 2-0 to move to six points. Those results now mean that even with a T&T loss to Haiti on Wednesday, the “Bajans” will have not only have to beat Martinique but beat them by at least six goals and hope too that T&T doesn’t score or loses badly in their final Sedley Joseph Group encounter. The four semi-finalists automatically advance to the Gold Cup.
The victory for the new-look “Soca Warriors” was well appreciated by those in the stands and would have also hopefully been applauded by other officials of the local football fraternity as CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh head coach Terry Fenwick among other coaches, both former nationals and that of clubs looked on. And well for the critics who knocked skipper Densill Theobald and the rest of the team after Friday’s 1-1 draw with Barbados, they maybe would either show some more support or still rant over their opinions.
T&T coach Wim Rijsbergen was however singing a note which indicated that his team meant business and knew too that it was far from over after the convincing win.
College boy Darryl Roberts, first brought to the national team back in 2004 after being recommended by Alvin Corneal, held his head up after missing a sitter on Friday, and used it well too as he directed Densill Theobald’s pinpoint right side free kick into the net from the last post on three minutes.
Martinique hit back though and Steve Gustan should have done better with a rebound from Xavier Bullet’s shot which was partially stopped by goalie Jan Michael Williams.
T&T continued to press though, maintaining sustainable pressure from the opening whistle. Roberts again was at it as his chip grazed the crossbar after a poor clearance by ‘keeper Eddy Heurlie.
Martinique didn’t drop gears and when Patrick Percin released Bullet on the right of the box, he gracefully accepted and rifled one past Williams to leave it at 1-1 after 16 minutes.
The goal silenced the home crowd but they had reason to make noise again on 30 minutes. This after Roberts’ shot was handled on its way goalways by defender Jan Deluge. He was given marching orders but Glasgow failed to capitalize on the error as his feebly taken penalty was stopped by Heurlie. More silence in the stands and the T&T bench would have been feeling it for Glasgow and the outfielders.
With that gone, T&T mounted more pressure. A Kerwyn Jemmott cross was connected with by Glasgow, but his try was cut off, and then Roberts’ follow up was also blocked before a lurking Kerry Baptiste nailed the rebound. The little Jabloteh midfielder, playing on the right flank for T&T, celebrated in style and his teammates looked set to take over the match.
They did just that as the home fans pushed them on. Soon after the restart, a Leslie Fitzpatrick perfectly delivered cross from the left was astutely headed home by Glasgow on 47 minutes.
The Martiniquans continued to fight on even though were lucky a Roberts strike in the 52nd minute was ruled offside.
The latter eventually made way for Joel Bailey and he played a part in the fourth goal when his movement towards goal on the right of the six yard saw him upended and Baptiste stepped up to calmly convert the spot kick on 75 minutes. Though the attacking men were getting the job done, the back like of Dwayne Jack, Nigel Daniel, Osei Telesford, playing with a troubled shoulder and young Seon Power also deserved credit for some good work in front the T&T goal.
The match was meantime also turning out to be a significant one for T&T trio Makan Hislop, Hayden Tinto and Bailey as they made their senior international debuts on the evening.
As the minutes ticked on, Fitzpatrick, for all his hustling, got some reward for another left side ball which led to the final goal seven minutes from time. Glasgow, netted his third of the tournament, even though he could easily have had six or more after Monday, as he slotted home from close up to close off the gates against the already demoralized Martiniquans. The sore losers later raced towards Panamanian referee Roberto Moreno to express their disapproval of his officiating as the final whistle went.
Baptiste received a Motorola mobile phone as the Digicel “Man of the Match” award and Rijsbergen later commended his team, particularly Theobald for the performance. Martinique coach Guy Michel Nisa however openly told the media that he felt his team was blatantly given a raw deal by the match officials.
