T&T suffers 3-1 defeat to Honduras.
TTFA Media.Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Men’s Team suffered their second straight defeat in the CONCACAF Final Round of World Cup qualification with a 3-1 defeat to Honduras at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitan in San Pedro Sula on Tuesday evening.
T&T conceded two quick goals inside four minutes as the match swung in the home team’s way before a boisterous crowd of just under 30,000.
The result left T&T in fifth spot after two games ahead of the United States on goal difference as they went down 4-0 away to Costa Rica. Costa Rica tops the group at the moment with six points, followed by Mexico (4pts) and Panama (4pts) as those two teams battled to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday night.
For Honduras, Romell Quioto opened the scoring on 16 minutes after picking his spot from the edge of the 18-yard box, and soon after in the 19th, Alberth Elis turned a defender and teed up Emilio Izaguirre who won possession from Carlyle Mitchell to send in a deflected shot past goalkeeper Marvin Phillip at the near post.
T&T lost goalkeeper Jan Michael Wiliams to injury in the 10th minute as the player received a knocked to the head as he chased down a ball with Aberth Ellis moving goalwards, suffering a concussion in the process and had to be rushed to hospital. Williams was unconscious for seven minutes, according to the team doctor Terence Babwah and could not recall anything about the game leading up to the point of injury. But he regained consciousness and was kept for observation at hospital until 10pm Honduras time. He underwent a cat scan which showed no bleeding of the brain.
T&T took a long time to settle as the hosts enjoyed the ball for long periods, leaving T&T on the blackfoot. Trevin Caesar;s effort which went wide was about their best look at goal in the first half.
But skipper Kenwyne Jones and his men pulled their socks up in the second half and begun to unsettle the hosts leading to their first goal through Mitchell. Moments before Jones (K) saw his header pushed out from a Joevin Jones delivery as T&T forced three consecutive corners with the third from Khaleem Hyland being powerfully headed home by Mitchell.
Hyland tested the Honduran custodian with a free kick on 57 minutes but he made the save.
This short spell of T&T getting themselves back into the game took the home fans out of the game for a bit but T&T could not find the equaliser. Substitute Willis Plaza had a low right footed effort saved by goalkeeper Donis Escober.
Eddie Hernandez would then seal the victory for the hosts 10 minutes from time by slotting home Boniek Garcia’s left side cross.
T&T midfielder Hyland left the game with a hamstring injury in the closing stages.
In T&T’s only ever qualification for a World Cup in 2006, which today marks eleven years since defeating Bahrain to advance, this country commenced the “Hex” with two opening defeats, a 2-1 loss at home to USA and a 5-1 thrashing away to Guatemala before holding Costa Rica 0-0 at home in the third match and subsequently going on to secure the fourth place spot which led to a 2-1 win on aggregate over Bahrain in the inter-continental playoff.
T&T’s third and fourth matches are at home to Costa Rica on March 24th and Mexico on March 28th.
Before that T&T faces Suriname on January 4th and Haiti on January 8th in the CFU Playoffs towards the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Stephen Hart’s Post-Match Comments“We gave up two early goals and allowed them to get on top of us. I thought both goals were preventable. We were just physically man-handled today and I am not pleased with the level of commitment, maybe it’s the level of fitness, I would have to see the game again,” Hart told TTFA Media.
“Our filling of space both defensively and offensively has to have way more physical effort.
Ahead of the games in March.“I think some changes need to be made and within those changes you have a number of players who will be home and you can address some of the physical issues. I have to sit down and review all the games and really think of the road ahead.
From then to Now – From victories over Panama (2-1) and Guatemala (2-1) and a 3-3 draw with Mexico between September to November last year to defeats to Martinique, Costa Rica and Honduras of recent.
” Well as I said a lot of it has to do with the physical make up. But even in possession we are not playing with enough triangulation and we are not simply playing fast enough. When you are away from home or even home, and goals are scored we are dropping our heads. We need to fight.”
TeamsTrinidad and Tobago: 21.Jan-Michael Williams (1.Marvin Phillip 9th); 5.Daneil Cyrus, 4.Sheldon Bateau, 12.Carlyle Mitchell, 2.Aubrey David; 7.Cordell Cato, 19.Kevan George, 8.Khaleem Hyland, 3.Joevin Jones (16.Levi Garcia 71st); 20.Trevin Caesar (13.Willis Plaza 75th), 9.Kenwyne Jones (capt).
Unused substitutes: 22.Adrian Foncette (GK), 6.Radanfah Abu Bakr, 10.Marcus Joseph, 11.Ataulla Guerra, 14.Andre Boucaud, 15.Neveal Hackshaw, 17.Jelani Peters, 18.Yohance Marshall, 23.Jomal Williams,
Coach: Stephen Hart
Honduras: 1.Donis Escobar; 21.Brayan Beckeles, 3.Maynor Figoeroa, 4.Henry Figueroa, 7.Emilio Izaguirre; 15.Roger Espinoza, 20.Jorge Claros; 14.Boniek Garcia, 12.Romell Quioto (13.Eddie Hernandez 68th); 10.Mario Martinez (6.Carlos Discua 68th), 17.Alberth Ellis,
Unused substitutes: 1.Luis Lopez (GK), 2.Félix Crisanto, 5.Allans Vargas, 8.Alfredo Mejia, 9.Roman Castillo, 11.Diego Reyes, 16.Johnny Leveron, 18.Oscar Salas, 23.César Oseguera.
Coach: Jorge Luis Pinto
Referee: Jair Marrufo (USA)
StandingsP W D L F A PtsCosta Rica 2 2 0 0 6 0 6
Mexico 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
Panama 2 1 1 0 1 0 4
Honduras 2 1 0 1 3 2 3
T&T 2 0 0 2 1 5 0
USA 2 0 0 2 1 6 0
Post Match Interview - Hart comments after 3-1 loss to Honduras