TT draw 1-1 in Olympic qualifier

BRIDGETOWN: Costa Rica, El Salvador and the United States all posted victories, while neighbours Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago played to a draw in the first leg of the second round of the CONCACF men’s Olympic qualifiers on Saturday. Costa Rica pummelled Guyana 7-0 in Cartago, El Salvador edged Canada 1-0 in San Salvador, the United States crushed St Kitts/Nevis 6-0 in Basseterre, while in the all-Caribbean Football Union encounter Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago drew 1-1 in St George’s. The first leg match-ups concluded yesterday with Jamaica hosting Guatemala at the National Stadium in Kingston, and Haiti facing Honduras at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, USA. The winners of these six series join Panama and host Mexico in the final round of CONCACAF qualification from February 2 to 12 next year to decide for one of two CONCACAF berths to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, next September. At the Grenada National Stadium, Kithson Bain gave Grenada an early lead when he was served with a through ball from the United States-based Chris Charles, dribbled around a defender and blasted past Jan-Michael Williams with his left foot in the 10th minute.

A penalty late in the first half, however, gave Trinidad and Tobago the equaliser. Salvadoran referee Rodolfo Sibrian blew Grenadian ‘keeper Ken Searles for a dangerous tackle on streaking TT striker Kevon Carter 10 minutes before halftime. Captain Silvio Spann made no mistake in hitting his penalty to the left of Searles. The return leg will be played in Port of Spain on Wednesday. At Warner Park, there were two goals apiece for Eddie Johnson and Edson Buddle, while Bobby Convey and substitute Alecko Eskandarian added a tally each. Johnson broke through for the Americans in the 12th minute when Convey served him a perfect through ball to beat the offside trap. Convey doubled the lead 15 minutes later when he ran at two St Kitts/Nevis defenders, lost possession, but fought to retrieve the ball before surprising Kayian Benjamin with a firecracker. Johnson then buried a through ball from Kyle Beckerman in the 50th minute to give the Americans a 3-0 advantage. Buddle would score his two goals in the space of three minutes near the end. He scored in the 78th off a two-on-one feed from Eskandarian and then booted home a corner kick in the 81th minute.

Eskandarian scored the final goal when he pounced on another through ball and nonchalantly chipped over the advancing Benjamin. The return leg is on Wednesday in Germantown, Maryland, a suburb west of Washington DC. At the Estadio Fello Meza, Costa Rica put a huge dent in Guyana’s hopes of breaking into the final stage when four goals from Alvaro Saborio set them up. It was a long, hard night for the Guyanese, who were trimmed to ten men when Walter Moore was ejected for a dangerous tackle on Jairo Arrieta. He will now miss next Sunday’s return leg at Blairmont Estate. The Ticos got on the board in the seventh minute when Saborio nailed a cross from Bernie Scott, then Jose Luis Lopez added another six minutes later to give the Costa Ricans a 2-0 edge at half-time. Five minutes after the break, Saborio scored off a pass from Erick Scott, and on the hour, netted from Pablo Brenes’ free kick. After Pablo Salazar scored off a cross from Brenes to make it 5-0 in the 77th minute.