Brazilian double stops Warriors

Making their debut for the Soca Warriors were Clyde Leon and Stephan David as coach Wim Rijsbergen took charge in his first match since relpacing fellow Dutchman Leo Beenhakker last month.

Trinidad and Tobago fell behind to two early goals scored by Brazilian-born striker Alessandro Alex.

The striker first netted with a perfectly directed free kick blasted into the right corner past an outstretched Jan Michael Williams from atop the box.

And shortly after Alex met a pass from Yuichi Komano and neatly lobbed over an advancing Williams for his second.

The Soca Warriors had to work hard to match the quick running Japanese but they picked their game up and came away with an improved second half performance which could have easily seen them score a couple goals.

Apart from the new players Trinidad and Tobago had the experience of striker Anthony Wolfe, midfielder Evans Wise, defenders Atiba Charles, Cyd Gray and Avery John who all played in the recent World Cup Finals in Germany. The Japanese fans were voiceferous throughout the encounter with only a small group of 60-odd Japanese fans choosing to wear the TT colours and beat a steel pan.

Goalkeeper Williams had some early work to do as the Japanese side came at the TT defence and it was not until the 29th minute that Gray had a first real attempt at goal— a one-time volley which went overbar.

Glasgow soon found his bearing with some decent runs and Wolfe had a feeble effort on goal as both teams went into the half with TT enjoying the better of the closing five minutes.

Two minutes into the second half, Wolfe tried to meet a left-side cross but his shot was straight to goalie Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

The small TT contingent’s chants of “Warriors...Warriors” could be heard behind the southern goal and they thought there was something to cheer when Gray’s inswinging free kick was claimed by the goalie before Keyeno Thomas could connect.

A minute later, following a good stop by Williams, TT broke but Wolfe’s effort was deflected to Kawaguchi.

At that stage, it was evident that the match was being played at a quicker pace and TT didn’t disappoint as they stuck in there with their tackles and tracking and began enjoying better possession than the first half.

A drizzle also dampened the surface a bit and eased some of the humidity as the Warriors began to enjoy the better run.

Kerry Baptiste replaced David in the 71st minute and played one inside to Glasgow who in turn found Wise out on the left top of the box but his effort flew inches over the cross-bar as the closing 20 minutes approached.

Glasgow also managed some trickery on the edge of the box, beating two defenders but his service couldn’t be bettered by substitute Kendall Jagdeosingh nor Wise.

Later on Thomas had to be replaced by Ian Gray, going off with a dislocated elbow.

Jagdeosingh (20-years-old), Pacheco (21), David (27), Williams (21), and Leon (22) were among the new faces in the national colours.

Teams—

TT: Jan Michael Williams, Keyeno Thomas (Ian Gray 79th), Atiba Charles, Avery John, Clyde Leon, Cyd Gray (capt), Stephan David (Kerry Baptiste, 71st), Evans Wise, Trent Noel, Anthony Wolfe (Kendall Jagdeosingh 76th), Gary Glasgow (Andrei Pacheco 90th).

Japan: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Keisuke Tsuboi (Kurihara 60th), Alessandro Santos, Yuichi Komano, Keita Suzuki, Tulio Tanaka, Tatsuya Tanaka, Koji Yamase (Daigo Kobayashi 55th), Hayuma Tanaka, Makoto Hasebe (Naoshi Nakamura 73), (Daisuke Sakata 85th), Kazuki Ganaha (Hisato Sato)