WALTER ALIBEY
Senior Multimedia Reporter
Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-15 Boys Soca Warriors team notched two wins in three matches as of yesterday, in Group ‘S’ of the FIFA Under-15 World Cup and Festival at the Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Following their comprehensive 3-1 victory over St Kitts/Nevis on Saturday, the junior Soca Warriors went down to a 2-1 loss to Iraq at the same venue. A failure in the defensive third allowed an unmarked Sajjad Faez to sneak in at the back door and connect with an earlier shot that took a deflection and fell perfectly into his path.
The diminutive figure of Faez hit a one-time shot that goalkeeper Malachi Leach got his hands to, but could only parry the ball into his own nets for a 1-0 Iraq lead. However, St Benedict’s College Jaylon Carrington knotted up the score in the 25th minute. The Iraq defence struggled to get clear a right-side cross from Jiair Nanton, and Carrington pounced on the loose ball by firing it into the empty net for a 1-1 scoreline.
Ironically, national coach Randolph Boyce’s call for consistency in concentration would be the area to let them down. Mahdi Salih was left all alone on the left side as his charges challenged an attacker on the right side of the flank, only for his cross to be met sweetly on the volley by Salih past Leach in goal in the 36th minute.
Later, the young Soca Warriors rebounded from that result by hammering the Cayman Islands 7-0.
Fatima College’s Nanton led the way with a double strike coming in the 36th and 37th minutes. Earlier, captain Aden Jones led from the front by finding the net after only 13 minutes of play, 1-0.
Determined to be one of the teams to progress from the group, Boyce charges made it 2-0 from a Zaa’Van Joseph strike in the 19th minute, only for Djoshua Cyrus, the scorer of a double in the opening game against St Kitts/Nevis, to intensify the Cayman Islands’ problems by scoring his third goal of the tournament in the 28th minute.
Now in complete control over a hapless Cayman Islands outfit, the Trinbagonians made it 4-0 from a Jaden Marcelle effort in the 29th minute, before Ryan Francette joined in on the fun with his goal in the 34th minute that took the T&T tally to 5-0. Nanton’s double were the final nail in the Cayman coffin, followed by the burial.
The T&T lads will complete the group phase with two more matches today at the same venue. In the first match, Boyce charges will come up against Egypt at 1 am this morning, TT time, before an encounter with Macau will complete their group matches. Should they win both their matches today, they should advance from the group.
TEAM
Malachi Leach, Soren Shade, Jiair Nanton, Zaa’van Joseph, Jaylon Carrington, Gabriel Mansoor, Armani Delph, Aaden Jones, Ryan Francette, Jaden Marcelle, Haseem Salandy, Kemani Byron, Djoshua Cyrus, Samuel Hosein
