Hosts Jordan gave a spirited display to pull off a 3-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in Tuesday’s International friendly at the Hassan International Stadium in Irbid.
The loss was the fourth successive for T&T which is preparing for their July 9th CONCACAF Gold Cup opener against Guatemala in Chicago.
Jordan took control with two first half goals from goals by Hamza Al Dardour in the 16th minute and Abdallah Deeb in the 24th as the “Soca Warriors” appeared lackluster in the opening half of the match which was witnessed by some 5,000 Jordanian fans.
Jordan, coming off a 3-1 win over Tajikistan in a 2018 World Cup qualifier last Friday, looked the sharper of the two teams and punished T&T for some inept defending early on. Al Dardour would go on to complete the rout in the 70th minute.
The first goal came when Deeb threaded a ball through to Al Dardour who was left with loads of room and time before clinically hitting past Jan Michael Williams in goal.
Deeb doubled the lead when he moved several metres unchallenged towards goal before rifling his effort past a stranded Williams.
In between the two goals, Jones came close for T&T when he met Lester Peltier’s ball but was his attempt was forced off target by Jordan’s alert defenders
Entering the match without injured playmaker Kevin Molino, T&T had little happening in attack in the first half. But Sheldon Bateau came close for the visitors with a header that went inches over bar from a Joevin Jones right side corner.
Jordan also kept the T&T busy at the back with a couple decent chances to increase their advantage both in the first half and later in the second as some timely stops by Jan Michael Williams prevented them from pushing their tally further.
Nine minutes from the break, Khaleem Hyland’s left footed effort was hit straight at goalkeeper Mutaz Yassin after Jones (K) and Daneil Cyrus combined with a neat one two exchange on the left.
In the second half, T&T went in search of a goal to get themselves back into the match. San Jose Earthquakes’ Cordell Cato was a bright spot for the visitors and created T&T’s best chance on goal in the 55th minute when he bursts past two players on the left and crossed into the box but substitute Willis Plaza couldn’t connect well enough to trouble the goalkeeper.
Plaza had another fine chance to put T&T on the scoresheet but his effort was saved from close up by Yassin. Jordan followed up quickly and increased their lead at the other end with a shot by Al Dardour which Williams was able to get a hand to, but only succeeded in pushing the ball into the goal.
T&T head coach Stephen Hart made a few changes later in the second half with Keron Cummings, Devorn Jorling, Sean De Silva, Leston Paul and Shahdon Winchester all entering the match but by then the result was already a foregone conclusion.
Williams was called into action on two occasions to deny Jordan in the closing minutes while Cyrus blocked another attempt with Williams stranded off his line.
The match was witnessed by President of the Jordan Football Association Prince Ali bin Hussein and TTFA President Raymond Tim Kee who both met the two teams before the start of play.
The T&T contingent will return home on Friday and is expected to re-assemble on Monday for a full live-in training camp in Port of Spain before heading to Fort Lauderdale in early July to continue its build up to the Gold Cup.
Hart says much work to be done before Gold Cup.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Team head coach labeled Tuesday’s performance by the “Soca Warriors” as “awful”.
“It was extremely disappointing today. We were second best, even third best today. We were awful,” Hart said in his initial reaction to the 3-0 loss to Jordan at the Hassan International Stadium in Irbid.
“I think what hurt most is that there were a number players out there playing for selection for a national team and quite frankly they didn’t deserve to wear a national shirt today. They showed no fight, no desire, no passion and it makes me think what the selection should be for the Gold Cup,” Hart told TTFA Media.
“I don’t want to make any excuses, long flight and some of the players felt a bit legless in the opening minutes but at the end of the day you still have to play the game. Cato certainly came into his own. He started off slow like nearly everybody else but he came into his own today. Kenwyne ran his socks off even though he couldn’t get the shots off that I would have liked and even (Willis) Plaza came on and played with a lot of passion and desire. But both individually and collectively, we were poor.”
Hart said improving the fitness level of the team is a priority heading into the training camp next week.
“There are a lot of things that need rectifying once we go into camp. The main priority right now is fitness… we are no where close to international fitness. Some of the players have been off since early May, so that’s the priority at the moment,” Hart added.
“I know what we need to do, what we need to work on and what the priorities are. The first thing on my part is the players selection and getting some sort of balance once we go into the camp. We need a situation where we are training twice or three times a day. We need that kind of environment now. If you’re not in that environment and you’re training once a day then it’s not good,amateurs train once a day and we have a lot of work to do before the Gold Cup,” Hart said.
Results:
Jordan 3 v T&T 0
Al Daradreh 16
Deeb 24
Al Saifi 70
Trinidad and Tobago: 21.Jan-Michael Williams; 2.Aubrey David, 4.Sheldon Bateau, 6.Daneil Cyrus, 3.Joevin Jones; 23.Lester Peltier (20.Keron Cummings 60th), 8.Khaleem Hyland (7.Sean De Silva 82nd), 14.Andre Boucaud (5.Leston Paul 71st), 13.Cordell Cato (16.Shahdon Winchester 78th); 11.Ataullah Guerra (10.Willis Plaza 46th - Yellow 48); 9.Kenwyne Jones (capt) (26.Devorn Jorsling 77th).
Unused substitutes: Marvin Phillip (GK); Radanfah Abu Bakr, Kaydion Gabriel, Mekeil Williams.
Coach: Stephen Hart.
Highlights: - Jordan vs. Trinidad and Tobago