Mexico wins opener 7-1 against T&T in Final round Olympic qualifiers
In October 2011, Mexico cursed when they were held 1-1 by Trinidad and Tobago in Guadalajara. Their fans voiced their disapproval, jeering the team at the final whistle and clapping the T&T players.
On March 23, 2012, Marco Fabian and company got their revenge, pulling out all the stops as they completed a 7-1 victory over T&T at the Home Depot Center to kick off the final round of CONCACAF Olympic qualification.
With several of their players from the Pan Am Games involved on the night minus a couple of their more experienced players now with the Senior team, the Mexicans were clinical, they had no sympathy for Angus Eve’s men.
Fabian led the way with three goals. Alan Pulido, Diego Reyes, Israel Jimenez and Javier Cortes also scored for Mexico while Kevin Molino got a consolation item for T&T near the end from close range, denying Liborio Sanchez of a clean sheet.
T&T weathered the early storm and kept themselves in the game until the deadlock was broken on 29 minutes. The usually reliable Marchan could do little after a corner kick by David Cabrera deflected off the head of Reyes before being saved and Pulido knocked in the rebound from close range.
Four minutes later, Sacramento, Calif.-born midfielder Miguel Angel Ponce fired a cross down the left flank to Fabian, his Guadalajara teammate, who doubled Mexico's lead with a header past Marchan.
T&T did manage a few tries on goal but they could not connect as Sanchez preserved the shutout with a pair of timely saves. Molino and Jamal Gay combined well in the 23rd but the Orlando City midfielder hesitated in front of goal.
T&T’s best attacking play came in the 42nd minute when after seven passes in the Mexican half, Sean De Silva’s crack at goal was well saved by Sanchez.
In the 51st minute, a free kick from Cabrera was saved by Marchan, but the rebound fell to Mexico captain Hiram Mier, who fired the rebound to Reyes for the third goal.
Mexico made it 4-0 in the 69th minute as a well-placed pass from Cortes found Fabian, once again left with loads of space, waiting inside the box and he sent a shot past Marchan. Jimenez followed with a score on a free kick from 30 yards out six minutes later, and Fabian completed his hat trick in the 85th minute on a rebound.
Before his goal, Molino also had a shot saved on the near left post. Cortes notched Mexico’s seventh item near the end.
T&T will face Panama at the Home Depot in Sunday. Honduras defeated the Panamanians 3-1 in Friday’s earlier match.
Eve left disappointed
T&T head coach Angus Eve summed up T&T's performance as "Poor and very disappointing".
He added that it was not the kind of result he expected.
"We were poor tonight especially defensively which is a bit surprising because this team has been very good defensively in the past. I thought we never passed the ball well and we never settled tonight. We spoke about a lot of things before the game and we did a lot on it in training but we did not get it together in this match which is very disappointing," Eve told TTFF Media.
"Now we have a situation where we must win our next two games to keep our chances alive. Based on what we saw of Mexico tonight I think they will beat everyone else in the group and we have it all to do starting with Sunday's game versus Panama. Mexico were far superior tonight. We lost to a very good team. I've told the players that there's nothing we can do to change what happened and while we must look back and learn we also need to move on from this match and get ourselves together for the remaining two matches in this group."
“The team played well. It was positioned well, it held possession," Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena said. "We had a good intensity. We were always looking to score more goals while respecting our rival."
Trinidad & Tobago: - Andre Marchan, Sheldon Bateau (capt), Kevan George, Leslie Russell, Sean De Silva, Jeromie Williams, Jamal Gay, Kevin Molino, Jayson Joseph (Trevin Caesar 66th), Mekeil Williams, Daneil Cyrus.
Coach: - Angus Eve.
México: - Liborio Sánchez; Israel Jiménez, Hiram Mier, Diego Reyes, Darvin Chávez; Héctor Herrera, David Cabrera (Jorge Enríquez 63rd); Javier Aquino (Javier Cortés 54th), Miguel Ponce (Néstor Calderón 73rd), Marco Fabián, Alan Pulido.
Coach: - Luis Fernando Tena.