T&T’s Under-17 footballers received a baptism of fire in international competition on Wednesday (Januarry 28), as they were hammered 6-0 by their Peruvian counterparts in an international friendly at the Estadio Ciudad de Futbol in Lima, Peru.
The match, held ahead of Group A of the Concacaf Under-17 World Cup Qualifiers, which begins on February 3 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, provided coach Randolph Boyce and his staff with a gauge of where his charges are at present, mere days before they face Barbados in their opener.
The U-17 staff, recently criticised for taking too long to select the final squad, saw their players hold their own in the opening moments. However, that composure vanished in the 19th minute as the home team took control, aided by a series of costly defensive blunders.
Sebastian Ortega’s 19th-minute corner posed problems for the T&T defence until Robinho Ormeno arrived at the back post to lash the ball past goalkeeper Mikhail Clement for the opener. T&T’s inexperience showed as most of their attacking attempts were dismantled before reaching the Peruvian defensive third.
Playing in their own backyard, the South Americans possessed the ball for long periods before coming close to the second goal in the 34th minute when a thumping shot by Alessandro Marsano was met by an acrobatic save by Clement to preserve the 1-0 scoreline.
There was, however, very little that he could have done a minute later. From the resulting corner, Angel Villalta connected with a one-time shot that crashed against the crossbar, only for Ortega to hit the rebound sweetly on the volley past Clement for a 2-0 advantage in the 35th.
The game had fast turned out to be one of backs versus forwards, as the home team intensified the pressure and were rewarded in the 38th minute. This time, from a neat build-up around the T&T goal area that ended with Eystin Cordova connecting powerfully from a cheeky back heel by Carlos Alvararado to send the Peruvians 3-0 up.
Before the half could have been completed, the home teams added two more goals to put themselves in a position of extreme comfort.
The T&T defence, confronted by another raging Peru attack, saw Sandro Cometivos calmly slip the ball onto the oncoming Ortega to place the ball perfectly out of the reach of the outstretched arms of Clement for a 4-0 margin in the 40th minute. And three minutes later, Villalta rose high to head home his team’s fifth goal to take them to the break in command and in charge.
T&T will host Group A of the qualifiers from Tuesday, February 3, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, with the group involving Barbados, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten and favourites Mexico, from which only the group winner will advance to the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in Qatar in November.
There was much to be said by Boyce at the interval, which appeared to have curbed the goalscoring feast that took place in the first half. Still, the Peruvians had the final say in the 88th minute, when Paolo Garcia drilled the ball powerfully from the free kick to beat substitute goalkeeper Levi Williams at his first post for a 6-0 victory.
The teams will meet a second time tomorrow as the T&T try to make amends for yesterday’s loss.
T&T TEAM
1 Mikhail Clement, 16 Kenai Richardson, 4 Antonio Hills, 20 Akel Vesprey, 12 Jelani Stoute, 13 Daniel Lewis, 10 Finn De Freitas, 19 Antuan Louison, 14 Nadeem Grant, 7 Jasai Theophilus, 9 J’ Meke Watkins
Subs
12 Reagan Rowe, 13 Sebastian James, 14 Jaylon Roberts, 15 Jeremiah Daniel, 16 Donovan Drayton, 17 Adasa Richardson, 18 Christian Pitt, 19 Jeremai Nanton, 20 Necose Moore, 21 Levi Williams, 22 Kanye Glasgow, 23 Adriel Faure, 24 Jaylon Forbes
