TT rebound to whip Nicaragua

Spurred on by three well taken goals from 36-year-old Cornell Glen, centre-back Carlyle Mitchell and winger Aikim Andrews, TT got their first victory under new coach Tom Saintfiet to rebound from their 2-1 loss to their hosts on Tuesday.

But as was the case in the opening friendly, TT found themselves trailing in the first half as Daniel Cadena placed his shot past Adrian Foncette to put the hosts 1-0 ahead the 25th minute after left-back Maurice Ford was left for dead by Jaime Moreno before finding Cadena unmarked in the six-yard box.

But despite going a goal down, TT fought hard and caused their hosts some trouble. Saintfiet gave veteran Glen a start alongside Tyrone Charles, Carlyle Mitchell and midfield workhorse Kevan George and it paid dividends.

Glen caused the Nicaraguan defence some problems with his acceleration, getting off two quick strikes at goal but goalkeeper Diedrich Tellez was up to the task both times.

But the former Columbus Crew striker would get on the scoresheet after the Nicaragua defence failed to clear their lines.

Mitchell played a diagonal ball on the right of the box for a lurking Glen and he kept his balance to volley into the turf and past Tellez for the equaliser in the 37th minute.

Six minutes after the interval, Glen won a free-kick midway into the opponents half and Hughton Hector floated one in for Mitchell to clinically convert with a neat glancing header to put TT 2-1 ahead.

TT would pull further away as Mitchell tussled with three defenders inside the area, going down in the process before the ball came out for Andrews who took one touch before striking a superb right footed volley into the far left corner to push the visitors 3-1 ahead.

Substitutes Daneil Cyrus and Shahdon Winchester muffed further opportunities for TT but Saintfiet would be pleased to see his team bounce back from their first loss in some style.

After the match the Belgium- born coach discussed the performances of his team and the results on their short Christmas tour.

“As a coach you want to win every match and I was very disappointed after the first match that we lost 2-1. I felt the players deserved more for the effort. So it was very important I think in my mind and in the players mind to get a good result before we travel back.

“It was the last game of 2016 and if we could win this match we would be in a stronger psychological mood to start the (Gold Cup qualifying) competition against Suriname and Haiti. And it think it was a very clear good performance not only tactically but also physically and mentally where we proved today that we could win this match and the result will help us naturally in the near future,” Saintfiet said.

He commended more than a handful of players for their efforts.

“It’s always difficult to say because we also have to respect the players that played last Tuesday. They also played quite well last match. Today the guys who came in like Kevan George, Carlyle Mitchell, Tyrone Charles and Cornell Glen did fantastic but it’s not only them, it’s a whole team performance. Even after the changes I have to think of players like Aikim Andrews and other players who performed well.

I think we as a team don’t have one, two, three big players but we have a team performance of 20-23 players who are playing on a high level.

Sure today some players showed that they deserved to be on the national team. I think some were a little bit out of selection for a long period and they wanted to prove something and I hope in the coming weeks they can continue that.” He spoke of the value of the twoweek training camp including the two friendlies in Managua.

“I think it’s very important and I am very happy that the (TT Football) Association could organise these matches in a short period of time. People sometimes people forget that I am only two and half, three weeks in Trinidad and that I saw only a few league matches and I had not a lot of time to select and to find the right players for the coming weeks. So this twoweek training camp plus these two friendly matches helped me a lot to know which players are ready, which system is best and how we can be prepared for Suriname and Haiti. I am a very happy coach that we use these days between Christmas and New Years to prepare our team because we have made a lot of steps forward.” TT resume preparation today ahead of their CFU Gold Cup playoff encounter against Suriname on Wednesday from 7pm at the Ato Boldon Stadium.

Tickets for the upcoming Gold Cup playoff matches are now on sale at all Lotto Locations nationwide.

There are 3-in-1 season tickets for the three matches costing $100 for adults and $45 for children.

Single match tickets cost $50 for adults and $20 for children.

TTFA Season Pass holders can access the games at no additional cost. Those TTFA Season Passes which includes access to the World Cup qualifiers are available at First Citizen’s Banks nationwide