Barbados, El Salvador in final
Ian Prescott iprescott@trinidadexpress.com
ON THE ATTACK: Trinidad and Tobago's Reagan Gaulteau, left, takes the ball under pressure from El Salvador's Israel Hercules during yesterday's CFU Youth Cup semi-final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. El Salvador upset the hosts 3-1 and will play Barbados in tomorrow's final at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.
SOME are already saying that El Salvador are the 2007 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-15 Youth Cup champions, even before they play Barbados in tomorrow's final from 6 p.m. at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.
El Salvador saw off a spirited second-half challenge from hosts Trinidad and Tobago to win 3-1 in what was considerably the stronger of yesterday's semi-final matches at the Hasely Crawford.
In the first semi-final, Barbados beat Guyana 5-0, getting a beaver-trick from striker Louis Moss (4th, 10th, 25th and 33rd) and one from Elsig Migins (65th).
Not that Barbados are so good, though, it's that Guyana are so bad. But, tomorrow, Barbados face a tougher test against El Salvador, who have already beaten them at the group stage.
Preceding tomorrow's final, T&T battle Guyanese from 4 p.m. for third place in the competition.
Yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago's under-15s began by trying to put El Salvador under pressure.
But, it was the Central Americans who settled better and had the first scoring chance, forcing T&T keeper John Thomas to push the ball onto the crossbar. From the resulting corner, Francisco Palacios, a little central defender, was allowed to get at the ball, looping a header over Thomas and giving El Salvador a 1-0 advantage in the 17th minute.
Trinidad and Tobago found themselves crowded and unable to do much in attack, while El Salvador, growing in confidence after a shaky start, repeatedly breached their opponents' right flank.
Without midfield service, Rennie Britto, T&T's top scorer with 11 goals in the tournament, had very few opportunities to trouble the El Salvador goal.
Coach Reynold Carrington started without two key players. Anselm Jackson, his most penetrative attacker, was benched and, subsequently, the national team got little production at right midfield.
Likewise, central midfielder Ryan Fredericks had looked T&T's most organised player early in the tournament, but was also on the bench. Without his simple but effective play, Trinidad and Tobago struggled to get the ball up front, never managing a good shot at the El Salvador goal in the first half.
Also, Shaquille Stewart, T&T's left back, had too much work to do as the wide midfielders did not pay any attention to defence. Consequently, in almost the exact fashion which afflicted the national Under-17s at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in South Korea, El Salvador drove up the T&T right flank like a freeway.
It could simply have been that El Salvador produced a better team than Trinidad and Tobago. They were faster to the ball, never shied away from aerial tackles, and always looked to get the ball wide.
It seemed a simple enough plan, but none of the T&T players seemed to understand that. Trinidad and Tobago's lone plan seemed to be to get the ball to their captain Britto and between him and the sphere there were always several blue shirts.
Jackson was brought on at the start of the second half and had an immediate impact, forcing El Salvador to defend. But, even though they dominated the half, T&T were still forced to change their game, using the long ball aimed at targetman Britto.
Against the run of play, and after surviving a ton of pressure, Jonathan Cabera squeezed in the ball giving El Salvador a 2-0 lead in the 53rd minute.
But Britto pulled his team back to 2-1 in the 59th, when producing one of the best goals of the tournament. Collecting Jackson's pass, Britto chipped the ball over the head of his marker, before he hit a scorcher into the roof of the El Salvador net. The goal lifted Young T&T and they twice came close to getting an equaliser, Galteau's shot just edging wide of goal, and later Britto was blocked by the El Salvador keeper.
But, despite plenty pressure, T&T could not produce another gem to pull level.