U-23s end it with a loss.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 23 footballers ended their CFU Final Round Olympic qualifying campaign on a losing note, this time going down 3-2 to Grenada at the Marvin Lee Stadium on Saturday evening.
The team, captained by striker Shane Calderon, got into early problems and found themselves 2-0 down at the half time break and then conceded a third in the second half before substitute forward Carlyle Mitchell notched a double to bring the hosts back into the game.
Grenada, coached by Trinidadian Dick Furlonge, got a double from Lyndon Antoine to secure the moral boosting win.
Antoine opened the scoring with a header unmarked on the far post from a left side corner. The same player doubled the lead on 34 minutes when he converted from close range after some sloppy defending which allowed Ariel Jacob to play across the goal.
It got worse for T&T when defender Devon Drayton committed a foul on Marcus Julien and Shane Rennie hit the resulting penalty past Andre Charles. Kevon Neave, playing on the left had a couple looks on goal and made similar runs goalwards but had little to show for it on the evening.
T&T took some time to settle in the second half but fortunately found themselves a man up when Stephen Peters was red carded for a foul on Matthew Bartholomew.
Then on 78 minutes, Belgium-based Aaron Downing, appearing off the bench for the first time in the series, almost pulled one back when his effort from the outside left of the penalty box curled through on its way to the cross bar.
Mitchell then gave the home fans something to cheer about when he knocked home from close range to leave the scores at 3-1 after 79 minutes. And a minute later Mitchell brought T&T closer with a well taken low shot on the turn which beat the Grenadian goalie.
Grenada now had their backs against the wall as T&T pressed for the equalizer. Mitchell had a couple more close tries by the visitors held on for the win which left them second in the group with Cuba advancing through to March’s CONCACAF Final round with six points.
10-man Grenada edges T&T U-23’s 3-2.
By: Kendall Garcia (Guardian).
Lyndon Antoine scored a first-half brace, as ten-man Grenada defeated host T&T 3-2, in the final match of the Caribbean Football Union Second Round Group G qualifiers, for next year’s Beijing Olympics at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, yesterday.
Antoine, who also netted in his team’s 2-1 loss to Concacaf Final Round qualifiers Cuba on Thursday at the same venue, opened the scoring with a header from a corner within the first ten minutes.
The lively Antoine doubled Grenada’s lead in the 34th minute when he tapped in a cross from Ariel Jacob for his team to take a comfortable 2-0 lead into the interval.
Five minutes into the second-half, T&T defender Devon Drayton was adjudged to have brought down Marcus Julien in the penalty-area by Mexican referee Marco Moreno and from the resulting spot-kick Shane Rennie beat goalkeeper Andre Charles for to extend the visitors advantage.
However, in the 72nd minute, Grenada was reduced to 10-men after defender Stephen Peters was given his marching orders for a sliding tackle from behind on T&T’s Matthew Bartholomew.
Six minutes after the sending off, Aaron Downing almost pulled a goal back for T&T, but his long range effort slammed into the cross-bar.
However a minute later, substitute Carlyle Mitchell did found the target for T&T when he was on spot to tuck home from close range after goalkeeper Denroy Richardson failed to hold onto a cross-ball.
Bartholomew then set up an interesting final ten minutes when he chested down a left-sided cross, turned on his marker and fired his shot across goalkeeper Richardson and into the far corner for a 3-2 score-line.
But despite coming close on a few more occasions, Grenada defence marshalled by captain Marc Marshall was able to hold T&T at bay and pull off a shock win, which left the host bottom of the standings without a point.
Cuba, the other team in the group secured the lone spot available to the Concacaf Final Round Qualifiers with a 2-1 win over Grenada and a 3-0 shut-out of T&T on Tuesday.
T&T Olympic squad go under to Grenada 3-2.
By: Ian Prescott (Express).
U-23s Lose Again
It was starting to look embarrassing at one stage, Grenada leading by two Lyndon Antoine goals (6th & 34th minutes) at the half-way stage, before converting a penalty through Shane Rennie (50th) early in the second half and taking a three-goal lead.
Fortunately for Trinidad and Tobago, substitute striker Carlyle Mitchell added some respectability to another poor performance by netting two goals. By then, Grenada were also down to ten men after one of their players was dismissed in the 72nd minute.
But after yesterday's 3-2 defeat in their Caribbean Zone Group G Under-23 qualifier at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya, Trinidad and Tobago will definitely not be represented on the football field at next year's Olympic Games in Beijing, China. They also lost 3-0 to group winners Cuba in their opening match on Tuesday at the same venue.
After trailing the Grenadians, Mitchell finally put the under-23 Soca Warriors on the scoresheet in the 78th, when hitting home a loose ball after a cross dropped at his feet, and then got his second in the 80th, when beating Grenadian custodian Denroy Richardson with a low shot to the far post.
The comeback was almost complete in the final minute when Aaron Downing's left side cross was met by Mitchell, who headed the ball an inch wide of the far post. Belgium-based Downing also came close, floating the ball across from the left and striking the far upright of the Grenadian goal.
Earlier, the Spice Islanders played nothing but the most basic football, but counter-attacked with efficiency. Defending with as many as six at the back, the Grenadians stopped T&T getting behind them, while at the same time exploiting the three-man T&T defence. Grenada's first two goals both came against the run of play.
Antoine sent them ahead in the sixth minute, putting in Ariel Jacobs' corner-kick with an uncontested header from six yards. Then, after absorbing a lot of T&T pressure, Grenada were ahead at 2-0 when a mistake by defender Larry Bacchus allowed Nickson Baptiste to find his strike partner Antoine, who rolled the ball past Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Andre Charles.
And before the hosts settled down in the second half, Devon Drayton, who came on for Bacchus, gave away a penalty from which Grenada got their third goal. It led to a most famous victory for the Grenadians, who have rarely ever beaten Trinidad and Tobago in football at any level.