6 hours ago
2
WALTER ALIBEY
Senior Multimedia Reporter
The quartet of Chaz Williams, Dominic Joseph, Josiah Kallicharan, and Giovanni Hospedales found the net yesterday to propel the T&T Under-20 football team to a 4-0 triumph over Sint Maarten for their second win in Group E of the Concacaf Under-20 Championships in Costa Rica.
The result pushed T&T ahead of the home team on seven points, mere moments before the Costa Ricans were scheduled to take on Bermuda. Costa Rica entered that game with six points.
After dropping two points against Bermuda in a crucial 2-2 tie, T&T entered the match with four points in two matches and needed to win for a chance of being the automatic qualifier as the group winner.
And they started positively with early dominance that turned the encounter into a scrimmage of backs and forwards. Still, the Sint Maarten men held out in defence in the early stages. In the 6th minute, T&T could have gotten the opener when goalkeeper James Plas Deher went high to fist out a right-side corner from Dominic Joseph. But it reached as far as Malachi Webb to connect with a one-time shot that went wide of the post.
Three minutes later, Webb dribbles inside the Sint M,aarten penalty area from left to right, and slipped the ball to the onrushing Joseph on the right, but the latter released a thumping shot that crashed off the upright.
Now in full control, coach Marvin Gordon’s men intensified the pressure and were rewarded in the 23rd minute, when Adam Pierre switched the point of attack from right to left, for Chaz Williams to take nicely at the edge of the box and drag the ball past the oncoming goalie, to later hit the ball into an empty net for the 1-0 advantage.
Five minutes later, T&T doubled their advantage. This time, Webb, who tormented the Sint Maarten defence all afternoon, was picked out unmarked in the box, and he unleashed a powerful shot that the Sint Maarten custodian could only parry into the path of Joseph on top of the goal area.
Joseph skillfully weaved his way past Kars Kerssies and struck a powerful grounder that flew past the outstretched arms of the Sint Maarten goalie for a 2-0 lead.
Leading 2-0 at the halfway stage, the T&T lads returned with similar intensity after the break, but the Sint Maarten defence held firm. Webb thought he had unlocked the combination from a through ball that allowed him to canter through, only for his fierce low drive to sail wide of the post in the 58th minute.
With Sint Maarten enabling little to no resistance, the T&T men increased their attacks and were lucky not to score in the 61st. This time, Williams stormed into the Sint Maarten penalty area on the left side, before skillfully cutting in on to his right foot, but his curling effort skinned the upright before going out to safety.
However, the Sint Maarten men could do nothing when substitute Giovanni Hospedales used his speed to get into the box ahead of his marker, and when he centred, striker Josiah Kallicharan was on the doorstep to tap in for a 3-0 lead in the 68th minute.
Hospedales then had the last say in the encounter that took the final score to 4-0. The skillful T&T striker was served a ball, airborne from the right side, and he took one touch to control before hitting it powerfully past the goalkeeper in the 86th minute.
The result took the T&T to the top of the group on seven points, mere moments before previous leaders Costa Rica were scheduled to face Bermuda in the other game of the afternoon.
SINT MAARTEN
1 James Plas Deher (gk), 4 Kars Kerssies, 6 Neil Henderson, 7 Ronil Garcia, 9 Jefferick Martina, 11 Jhayden York, 12 Tim Van Ottele, 13 Xabel Dias, 15 Gijs Van Ottele, 16 Omari Gumbs, 19 Jahzeel Niles
Subs
18 Jurre Van De Pas (gk), 2 Reginaldo Bosse, 3 Mike Richardson, 5 Jayden Blomont, 8 Zacciah President, 10 Jefferson Lijcklama, 14 Thomas Plas Deher, 17 Joshua Mardenborough, 20 Gregory Lawrence
T&T TEAM
1 Bryan Gafiuk (gk), 2 Jeremy Meloney, 4 Adam Pierre, 7 Malachi Webb, 8 Josiah Ochoa, 11 Chaz Williams, 13 Lyshaun Morris, 15 Jadon Mc Shine, 16 Jaden Chan Tack, 17 Dominic Joseph, 19 Josiah Kallicharan
Subs
18 Jadon-Paul Alexander, 21 Sylvon Theophilus, 3 Sheridan McNish, 5 Jaydon Caprietta, 6 Caden Trestrail, 9 Phillip Nelson, 10 Darrel Garcia, 12 Colin Xavier Joseph, 14 Talan Mc Millan, Giovanni Hospedales
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