Trinidad and To­ba­go’s hopes of ad­vanc­ing to the next phase of the Con­ca­caf Na­tions League were shat­tered last night af­ter they were drubbed 4-0 by a well-oiled Hon­duras at the Es­ta­dio Olímpi­co Met­ro­pol­i­tano in Hon­duras.

A dou­ble from mid­field­er Al­berth Elis was more than enough to give the home side vic­to­ry and con­fine the So­ca War­riors to yet an­oth­er hu­mil­i­at­ing 4-0 loss in four days.

In a game in which T&T were put un­der de­fen­sive pres­sure from the first whis­tle by a slick Hon­duran mid­field which grabbed con­trol of the game, Elis first con­vert­ed a penal­ty in the sec­ond minute of time added on for stop­pages in the first half. Af­ter de­fend­er Aikim An­drews brought down Hon­duran winger Jonathan Toro­hia in the penal­ty area, Elis stepped up and buried a right-foot­ed shot in­to the bot­tom right-hand cor­ner of T&T goalie Mar­vin Phillip’s net to in­crease the ad­van­tage to 3-0.

Elis com­plet­ed his dou­ble in the 52-minute when he latched on­to a through ball from Toro­hia in­side the penal­ty area and un­leashed a right-foot­er which gave a now weary Phillip no chance again.

Toro­hia had ear­li­er giv­en Hon­duras the lead af­ter just five min­utes when he beat Phillip with a right-foot­er from just out­side the box off a free-kick.

In­flu­en­tial mid­field­er Brayan Moya, who pulled most of the strings in the mid­dle of the field for his team, then gave them a 2-0 cush­ion 15 min­utes lat­er with a left-foot­er in­side the penal­ty area off a feed from Félix Crisan­to.

T&T, beat­en 3-0 in a mid-week friend­ly by Ecuador, tried their best in the sec­ond half but sim­ply did not have the depth to launch a come­back. To add in­sult to in­jury, coach Den­nis Lawrence lost both Jo­mal Williams and Car­lyle Mitchell and to in­juries.

(Teams)

Trinidad and Tobago (4-2-3-1): 1.Marvin Phillip (GK); 18.Aikim Andrews, 2.Aubrey David, 4.Sheldon Bateau (captain), 3.Ross Russell Jr (12.Carlyle Mitchell 55 [5.Daneil Cyrus 69]); 23.Aaron Lester, 8.Kevon Goddard; 20.Jomal Williams (16.Jomoul Francois 74), 9.Ataulla Guerra, 11.Ryan Telfer; 10.Marcus Joseph.

Unused substitutes: 21.Glenroy Samuel (GK), 7.Nathan Lewis, 19.Matthew Woo Ling, 17.Jerrel Britto.

Coach: Dennis Lawrence

Honduras (4-2-1-3): 22.Luis Lopez (GK), 2.Félix Crisanto, 15.Denil Maldonado, 3.Maynor Figueroa (captain), 5.Éver Alvarado; 8.Carlos Pineda, 10.Alexander López; 13.Brayan Moya (20.Edwin Rodríguez 86); 17.Alberth Elis, 11.Rubilio Castillo, 12.Jonathan Toro Rubio (16.Rigoberto Rivas 78).

Unused substitutes: 1.Harold Fonseca (GK), 18.Jose Zúñiga (GK), 4.Marcelo Santos, 6.Bryan Acosta, 7.Emilio Izaguirre, 9.Jorge Benguché, 14.Kevin Arriaga, 19.Juan Ramón Mejía, 21.Kevin López, 23.Edwin Solano.

Coach: Fabián Coito

Concacaf Nations League Result

(Sunday 17 November 2019)

Honduras 4 (Jonathan Toro Rubio 5, Brayan Moya 20, Alberth Elis 45+1 pen, 53), Trinidad and Tobago 0 at San Pedro Sula

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Honduras whip woeful T&T in Nations League.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

HONDURAS whipped a woeful T&T outfit 4-0 last night, at the Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in their Concacaf Nations League, League A Group C encounter.

The Hondurans have qualified for both the Concacaf Nations League semi-finals and the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.

T&T, on the other hand, were relegated to League B and will enter the Gold Cup qualifying second round.

Honduras finished top of the three-team League A Group C with 10 points from four matches, followed by Martinique (three points) – who also qualified for the next Gold Cup, and T&T (two points).

For T&T coach Dennis Lawrence, this result mirrored Thursday’s 3-0 win away to Ecuador, in a friendly international. The T&T team, who recorded their largest ever victory last Sunday – 15-0 over Anguilla – hardly offered a threat on the offensive end, and their defence were routinely picked apart by their hosts.

It was virtually a new-look T&T team, with a number of players absent due to suspension, choice, injuries or inability to enter Honduras due to an issue with their vaccination cards.

Aikim Andrews, who plays as a midfielder with Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, was inserted as the right back by Lawrence, and the make-shift defender was culpable for Honduras’ opener, after five minutes.

Andrews chested a long-ball from a Honduras player and failed to spot a lurking Jonathan Rubio who took the loose ball and drilled a low right-footed shot, from the edge of the penalty box, to the right of goalkeeper Marvin Phillip.

Another full-back, Aubrey David, was left for dead by overlapping defender Felix Crisanto who made a run down the flank and squared the ball for Brayan Moya who slotted a left-footed effort to the bottom right-hand corner in the 20th minute.

Honduras virtually assured themselves of victory when Alberth Elis converted a penalty, in first half stoppage time, after Moya’s shirt was pulled, inside the box, by a hapless Andrews.

And Elis put the icing on the cake in the 54th minute. T&T’s captain Sheldon Bateau’s poor pass was intercepted by the midfield and the ball was relayed to Elis who was free as a bird as he strolled into the penalty box and finished with a powerful right-footed shot.

Marcus Joseph came close to getting an elusive goal for T&T, with a left-footed shot which forced a good save from Luis Lopez, after 61 minutes.