U-20s routed 5-0 in second UAE match
.... On to Seoul.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 20 footballers would have depended for a better results from their favoured European Champions’ League teams Manchester United or Arsenal last night in hope of a mood change after they suffered a 5-0 defeat in their warm up international to the United Arab Emirates’ Under 20 team in the second of two matches at the Al Ain Sports Complex in Al Ain.
After giving a relatively good showing in their 1-0 loss a day earlier, the Under 20s gave head coach Zoran Vranes a reminder that his bench players were not yet all that close to being as strong as the starters.
Vranes made eight changes to his starting team from the opening match with the likes of skipper Leston Paul, goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel, Sean De Silva, Qian Grosvenor, Akeem Adams, Daniel Cyrus, Daniel Joseph and Jean Luc Rochford all being left on the bench and strikers Juma Clarence and Trent Lougheed, Kevin Molino, Uriah Bentick, Marvin Manswell. Curtis Gonzalves, goalie Andre Marchan and Sherron Joseph coming in.
UAE too also made some five changes to their first team. They subsequently got their goals from Mohet Jasin (12th and 36th), Sultan Burghas (64th), Mohamed Jab (78th) and Saad Suroer (90th).
“It’s okay for me to give comments when we lose this badly as well,” Vranes told TTFF Media afterwards. “I won’t hold it back but we have to understand that we must work harder especially when the opportunity comes our way to do something in a match. I was hoping maybe for a better result or one not as bad as today but the players who started didn’t come up too well. We looked better going forward because we settled down much earlier than the last game but then we also conceded earlier. We allowed little mistakes to make the game harder for us. But we will work on this. We will review our mistakes and now look ahead to the other matches.”
The new starters gave T&T a more lively start than the first encounter with T&T going on the offensive from early on and Lougheed thought he had put T&T ahead when he slotted home from close range from a left side cross but the linesman’s flag was up for offside on five minutes.
Three minutes later Molino cleverly turned two players on the right top of the box before laying off for Joseph but his effort was well pushed away by goalkeeper Ahmed Mahmoo. Soon after the same Mamoo was called into action, advancing to deny Clarence.
But on twelve minutes T&T had a let up at the back when Maher Jasim was allowed room to move in on the right and Marchan failed to properly cover his near left post and the forward drilled his shot home on the exposed near side.
T&T continued to press going forward and Joseph had another crack from just inside the area which had Mamoo scrambling to push out for corner.
But T&T’s problems doubled when Gonzalez, captaining the T&T team on the evening, was adjudged to have handled a left side ball on the right near post and Jasin converted the resulting penalty.
Two minutes after half time, Manswell had T&T’s best effort on goal when he met a ball wide on the right and moved inwards before unleashing a left footer which swerved inches wide of the top left corner of the goal.
Vranes introduced De Silva, Paul, Rochford, Cyrus and Joseph as the second half progressed but T&T found themselves 3-0 down when Barghas drilled a low shot into the right corner past a hapless Marchan and it was quickly 4-0 to the hosts when Jab fired home from close in.
The goal of the match came in the final minute when Suroer chipped one home from 35 metres out to leave the hosts 5-0 winners. T&T defender Bentick also got sent off late on for a rash challenge.
T&T will depart Dubai early Thursday morning for Seoul, South Korea where they will face that country’s national under 20 team in two games as they continue their build up for the FIFA Under 20 World Championship in Egypt in August.
