TT footballers outplayed

TWO GOALS by Birmingham City striker Stern John gave Trinidad and Tobago footballers a 2-2 draw against a combative Venezuelan outfit in a friendly encounter at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Thursday night.

But national coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier will not have been entirely pleased with the performance of his squad, who were outplayed for the most part by the minnows of South American football. The 10,000 crowd, which included a large Venezuelan contingent, saw the visitors strike within the first minute. After a series of passes in attack, the diminutive striker Cristian Casseres collected the ball outside the penalty box and blasted home past 18-year-old goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams. The hosts tried valiantly for the equaliser, with John seeing his 10th minute headed goal, from a Silvio Spann freekick, ruled offside by assistant referee Michael Ragoonath. Another English-based forward Hector Sam of Wrexham was also unlucky to see his right-footed long range effort rebound off the uprights two minutes later. But the Venezuelans dominated play, in terms of maintaining ball possession, for the duration of the half, with the Trinidad and Tobago midfield at sixes and sevens. To their credit the defence, comprising of captain Reynold Carrington, Keyeno Thomas and the gangling Dennis Lawrence thwarted the efforts of the visitors, masking the relative inexperience of goalie Williams, playmakers Spann and Kerry Baptiste.

Spann, who made very little impression in attack, earned a penalty for his team two minutes after the restart. With the Venezuelans back in defence, Spann saw his errant pass handled inside the penalty box by stopper Leonel Vielma. Egged on by the noisy crowd, John made no mistake with his spot-kick, slamming home past the outstretched keeper Manuel Sanhouse. The national squad sent players forward for the go-ahead goal, leaving spaces open in the midfield, which the Venezuelans successfully exploited in the 50th. Giovanny Perez, unmarked on the right-flank on a counter-attack, squared the ball to Casseres who, with a bolt of speed, flew past Thomas and blasted his left-footer past a stranded Williams. Williams, who remained calm under pressure, did well to tip a lob from Luis Vallenilla overbar, on a follow-up from a clearance outside his box, in the 69th. But the introduction of Nigel Pierre seconds later, in place of an ineffective Sam, proved vital for the struggling TT frontline. Four minutes after making his entry, John collected a stray pass from fellow reserve Kendall Davis and, after a one-two with Pierre, found himself unmarked in the six-yard box and buried his right-footer past Sanhouse. Spann saw his 76th minute freekick miss the uprights by a few metres while a Pierre goal was disallowed by linesman Joseph Taylor for offside in the 83rd minute.

Teams -
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Jan-Michael Williams; Reynold Carrington (captain), Dennis Lawrence, Keyeno Thomas, Nigel Daniel (Glenton Wolfe 90th); Dale Saunders (Kurt Williams 80th), Kerry Baptiste (Kendall Davis 61st), Carlos Edwards, Silvio Spann (Trent Noel 89th); Hector Sam (Nigel Pierre 69th), Stern John.
VENEZUELA: Manuel Sanhouse; Jose Rey (captain), Luis Vallenilla, Leonel Vielma, Jorge Rojas; Giovanny Perez (Alejandro Cichero 75th), Leopoldo Jimenez, Javier Villafraz (Luis Vera 89th), Gabriel Urdaneta (Ricardo Paez 81st); Ruberth Moran (Daniel Noriega 67th), Cristian Casseres (Juan Arango 79th).