T&T senior and Under-20 midfielder Michael Chaves of Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) was taken off the field on a stretcher during his team’s fiesty 2-1 loss against MIC Matura ReUnited in the T&T Premier Football League Tier II Division match in the second clash of a doubleheader at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Training Field, Mucurapo on Sunday night.
The 17-year-old, who featured for T&T at the recent CONCACAF U-20 Championship Pool D Qualifiers at Mucurapo and then made his senior team debut against Jamaica on March 1 in a 1-0 friendly international loss at the same venue, was stretchered off the field and taken to the St Clair Medical Complex, Port-of-Spain where he underwent successful surgery on the fractured left fibula injury, putting an end to what was a stellar season, which also included representing Fatima College in the 2023 Secondary Schools Football League Premier Division.
Matura ReUnited opened the scoring as early as the eighth minute through Daniel Rose, and in the 31st minute, the visitors doubled their advantage through Andrew Nicome.
However, two minutes later, the Parkites, who were without a number of key players inclusive of the influential Sean De Silva, managed to cut the lead in half when Winston Johnson netted.
But a minute before the half-time whistle both teams suffered a blow when Matura ReUnited’s Kwame Hazel was shown a straight red card by referee Rashby Mc Fie for a crunching tackle on Chaves.
In the second half, the Parkites were unable to make their player advantage count as Matura ReUnited held on for the win to climb to a four-way tie for the second spot, improving to 20 points from nine matches, level with the trio of Harlem Strikers, Central Soccer World and previous leader Petit Valley/Diego Martin United (PVDM) who went under to San Fernando Giants 2-0 in the first match at Mucurapo to trail table toppers Guaya United by one point.
Guaya United rallied from 0-2 down to beat the University of T&T Patriots 3-2 at UTT Campus Ground, O’Meara Road, Arima, in an early match on Sunday.
In the second match at Arima, Defence Force got an own goal from Keithen Carter in the 77th minute to draw 1-1 with Harlem Strikers who went ahead on the stroke of half-time thanks to Elijah Seechan.
Results
Sunday
Defence Force 1 (Keithen Carter 77th o.g) vs Harlem Strikers 1 (Elijah Seechan 45+1)
MIC Matura ReUnited 2 (Daniel Rose 8th, Andrew Nicome 31st) vs QPCC 1 (Winston Johnson 33rd)
San Fernando Giants 2 (Arkido Joseph 40th, Rayon Alleyne 90th) vs Petit Valley/Diego Martin 0
Guaya United 3 (Keston Frontin 39th, Kendes Garcia 78th, Renaldo Mc Intosh 85th pen) vs UTT Patriots 2 (Kevaughn Connell 7th, 19th)
Saturday
Laventille United 3 (Quanlanson Archibald 15th, 90+4, John Belgrave 88th) vs Cunupa Eagles FC 2 (Daniel Diaz 43rd, Jesse Downing 84th)
Bethel SC vs Central Soccer World 2 (Ryan Frederick 36th, Elijah Payne 90th) vs Bethel Utd 1 (Teejay Cadiz 45th)
Police FC 2 (Jameel Perry 80th, Clevon Mc Fee 90+6) vs Club Sando 1 (Gerald Meloney 35th)
Latest TTPFL Tier II standings
Pos Teams P W D L F A Pts
1 Guaya Utd 10 7 0 3 20 14 21
2 Harlem Strikers 11 6 2 3 29 13 20
3 Matura ReUnited 9 6 2 1 24 13 20
4 Central Soccer World 11 5 5 1 15 10 20
5 PVDM Utd 12 6 2 4 20 16 20
6 San F’do Giants 11 6 1 4 19 19 19
7 QPCC FC 10 6 0 4 24 11 18
8 Defence Force 10 4 3 3 25 9 15
9 RC Eagles 11 4 3 4 18 21 15
10 Police FC 9 3 2 4 7 9 11
11 RSSR FC 11 2 2 7 11 30 8
12 UTT 10 2 1 7 20 28 7
13 Laventille Utd 11 2 2 7 17 36 7
14 Bethel SC 6 1 2 3 8 11 5
15 Club Sando 8 1 2 5 10 26 5
RELATED NEWS
Under-20 Soca Warrior Michael Chaves has surgery for fractured leg
By Roneil Walcott (T&T Newsday).
Trinidad and Tobago under-20 men's footballer and Fatima College student Michael Chaves will be sidelined for approximately three-six months after suffering a fractured leg during a TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) match.
The tier-two match was played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium training field, Mucurapo on March 17.
Playing for QPCC against the visiting MIC Matura United, the 17-year-old Chaves suffered the gruesome injury near the end of the first half, when he was on the receiving end of a rough tackle from Kwame Hazel as he made a run down the right wing. Players from both teams raised the alarm immediately to referee Rashby McPhie, before Chaves was stretchered off and eventually taken to St Clair Medical Centre.
Just before 1 am on March 18, the talented striker had successful surgery after being treated by Dr Sergiy Adonin.
QPCC coach Wayne Sheppard said Chaves suffered a fracture of the left fibula, and he said the outcome could have been worse if the tibia had been damage.
Sheppard said Chaves, described as "one of the best talents" in the local game at present, is in good spirits and he believes he has the mindset needed to bounce back from the injury.
"He's a strong youth. He has a great support system around him," Sheppard told Newsday.
After representing T&T's under-17 men's football team at the Concacaf under-17 championships last year, Chaves showed his worth to local football fans on home soil last month in the Concacaf under-20 men's championship qualifiers at the Hasely Crawford Stadium venue.
In T&T's first qualifying match against St Vincent and the Grenadines on February 23, Chaves came off the bench and scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as the hosts grabbed a 3-2 comeback victory. In T&T's next game, against Dominica, two days later, Chaves scored the opening goal in T&T's resounding 5-0 win.
The young Soca Warriors did not advance to the Concacaf under-20 championships, though, as they fell to a 3-0 loss against Canada in their last group game when faced with a must-win situation.
A Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) premier division and national intercol winner with Fatima, Chaves was given his first senior cap by T&T head coach Angus Eve on March 1, when he came on as a second-half substitute for the Soca Warriors against Jamaica in a friendly fixture in Mucurapo.
Sheppard praised his players for the determination and will they showed to return to the field after Chaves' injury. And while he did not put the blame on Hazel, Sheppard said the players were not well protected by McPhie during the contest. Just before Hazel's tackle on Chaves, Sheppard said he and his technical staff were outraged by the nature of tackles by the opposition.
The QPCC coach was eventually red-carded after showing his displeasure with McPhie's handling of the match.
"Every single player who stepped on the field after that injury has my respect. It is not Christmas time in the camp right now for sure, but I must tip my hat...to those boys who went back out there," Sheppard said. "The referee did not have a command of the game at all."
QPCC lost the encounter 2-1, but Chaves' recovery is the most important thing for the Parkites at the moment.
Chaves was set to travel with the City FC team this week for the 2024 Jefferson Cup in the US. Sheppard said Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) is one of the many colleges eager to add the young T&T forward to their programme.
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