The Soca Warriors, T&T’s senior national football team, marked its return to a local pitch since appearing at the 2006 World Cup in Germany with a masterclass and a 5-0 win over St Vincent and The Grenadines at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo last night.
By Jovan RavelloThere was a stark difference in the crowd that attended yesterday’s match and T&T’s last fixture against Peru before going to the 2006 World Cup in Germany on May 10.
Former national custodian and present goalkeeper coach Michael Maurice took Jan Michael Williams and Marvin Phillip through their warm-up, the former under-17 ‘keepers looking very much at home.
World Cup players Cornell Glen and Brent Sancho were noticeable omissions from Wim Rijsbergen’s team both being out injured.
For the first five minutes the ball stayed pinned to the midfield that was until David Atiba Charles slipped a ball through the middle to Carlos Edwards on the right wing, the final ball however was just ahead off Stern John and the chance went begging.
The sequence marked the beginning of a series of enterprising forays forward for the home team.
In the 13th minute T&T got the opening goal of the match as Chris Birchall tucked away a rebound off of Dwight Yorke’s header from just outside the area the free-kick was awarded after Edwards was unceremoniously hacked down by St Vincent’s Markneil Lewis.
John playing his 99th match for the T&T national team showed a flash of brilliance in the 15th minute when he cut inside his defender only to flash his shot well wide of the target.
T&T maintained shape and effectively took control of the middle of the park allowing the Vincentians no room, denying them the ball and shutting down their opponents altogether.
In the 24th minute Birchall took a short corner to Collin Samuel who returned the ball to the English-born midfielder whose cross was met well by St Vincent ‘keeper Melvin Andrews but his punch fell favourably for John and the striker put away T&T’s second.
St Vincent continued to be frustrated by T&T’s organisation in all areas of the pitch and began to pale in the glare of the Soca Warriors swagger up to the half-time whistle
Immediately after coming back out T&T struck again as John outfoxed two Vincentian defenders and picked his spot in the 48th minute.
St Vincent was all but dead on its feet and showed its frustration when Benford Joseph earned himself two yellow cards the second for a foul on John and Surinamese referee Enrico Wijngaarde also had to give Dexter Walker his marching orders for a clumsy 65th minute foul on second-half substitute Kenwyne Jones.
From the resulting free-kick captain Dwight Yorke almost effortlessly put the ball past the hapless Vincentian goalkeeper.
And T&T completed the rout of the nine man St Vincent team after Kerry Baptiste, a second-half replacement for Carlos Edwards, benefitted from John’s good work on the left side that produced a spot on cross which Baptiste put away with his first touch of the match marking a memorable full national debut.
T&T next opposes Panama on Wednesday at the same venue at 6:30pm.
Teams
T&T: Jan Michael Williams, David Atiba Charles, Dennis Lawrence, Christopher Birchall, Cyd Gray, Carlos Edwards, Collin Samuel Nigel Daniel, Stern John, Dwight Yorke (capt), Jason Scotland
Subs: Avery John,, Dwayne Jack, Trent Noel, Anre Toussaint, Kenwyne Jones, Andrei Pachaco, Kerry Baptiste,Marvin Phillips.
St Vincent and the Grenadines: Wesley John, Daryl Gordon, Benford Joseph, Howie Williams, Shandell, Samuel, Kendall Velox, Andrew Douglas, Greg Mayers, Dexter Walker, Markneil; Lewis, Melvin Andrews.
Subs: Richard Hayde, Ramon Haywood, Marlon James, Kevin Joseph, Deren Francis, Collingham Delves, Windslow Mc Donald.
