TT win Olympic opener 3-0

NASSAU: Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-23s struck all their goals in the second half as they whipped Bahamas 3-0 in the opening fixture of their two-match Olympic qualifying first round tie on Friday night. Substitutes Michael Lee Celestine and Kendal Davis gave the visitors a 2-0 advantage and Andre Toussaint added a third four minutes from the end as Trinidad and Tobago triumphed in front of about 900 fans at the Bahamas FA National Stadium. The return match is set for the same venue this afternoon.

Trinidad and Tobago were dominant from the start but had difficulty piercing an ultra defensive strategy employed by the Bahamians. Celestine, a half-time substitute headed in a cross from the right side to give TT a 62nd minute lead before Davis scored in the 78th minute, eight minutes after he entered the match. Toussaint, last year’s TT Professional Football League (PFL) “Player of the Year,” completed the scoring in the 86th minute as the visitors claimed a handsome advantage going into today’s match. The CONCACAF qualifying series has several other first-leg ties this weekend, including yesterday evening’s fixtures between Panama and Nicaragua in Managua and Grenada at home to the Cayman Islands. Today, Canada are away to the US Virgin Islands, Cuba play Jamaica in Havana, the Dominican Republic tackle Haiti in Santo Domingo, Dominica entertain St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname are at home to Guatemala, and Barbados play home team Guyana at Blairmont.
 
The first round features 20 teams competing in a home-and-away series while El Salvador, Honduras, St Lucia and the USA receive byes into the second round. The second round series is set for mid-November with the seven winners from there joining the hosts Mexico in the final round of CONCACAF qualification from February 2-12 next year. Thirteen squads are in the women’s preliminary round, which begins in October and must be completed by December 14, 2003.