T&T U17s batter BVI but eyes close contest with Suriname in CFU qualifiers
Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 footballers broke the record for the highest number of goals ever scored in a regional Under 17 World Cup qualifying match when they battered British Virgin Islands 23-0 in their opening Caribbean Football Union qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Tuesday night.
The result was a record for qualifying matches in CONCACAF also as the confederation’s director of information Steve Torres confirmed that the previous record was held by Jamaica in their 16-0 win over St. Kitts & Nevis on August 26th, 1994.
T&T’s record-breaking performance came largely due to the efforts of Police FC forward Brent Sam who notched seven goals on the night while Kishun Seecharan and Jabari Mitchell each got a hattrick, skipper Brendon Creed, Aikim Andrews and Weah Adams all had doubles while Andre Fortune, Matthew Woo Ling and Akeem Garcia getting a goal each.
Suriname defeated Guyana 3-1 in their earlier game of the double header. Guyana will do battle with BVI from 5pm on Thursday at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva while T&T tackles Suriname from 7pm.
“It’s a good win but I do not want the players to feel any great sense of accomplishment by this result,” T&T head coach Shawn Cooper told TTFF Media after the match.
“We didn’t know much about BVI but we knew this was a game we had to win. Fortunately for us we were able to dominate and score a number of goals. I was pleased that we never let our foot off the gas and we took our chances. It shows the appetite of the boys to win a match convincingly.”
“Being the first international game for them was a good result for them and scoring twenty three goals against any opposition is a quite a feat.”
Commenting on the performance of Sam who is the nephew of former national striker Hector Sam, Cooper added: “Brent started with this team playing at left back. I saw him in the Colleges league with San Juan finishing well and clinically and we ran into problems as our strikers were not finishing too well and I got a gut feeling and said I wanted to try him there. He was at home and was very calm in front of goal and he was a totally different player from then on.”
Looking ahead to Thursday’s clash with Suriname at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Cooper added “I had a look at them in the opening match and they appear to be pretty organized and they got a good result. I think this game is going to be a mouthwatering affair on Thursday.”
T&T 23 – 0 British Virgin Islands
Brent Sam 7(23’, 29’, 37’, 54’, 61’, 70’, 71’); Kishun Seecharan 3(19’,31’, 40’), Jabari Mitchell 3(13’, 44’, 50’) Akeem Garcia 1(37’), Brendon Creed 2(48’ pen , 76’,pen), Andre Fortune 1(9’), Matthew Woo Ling 1(57’), Akim Andrews 2(78’, 81’), Weah Adams 2(82’, 88’), Martieon Watson 1(84’)
Trinidad & Tobago— 1. Stephon Seepersad, 2. Shannon Gomez, 3. Maurice Ford, 4. Josiah Tremmingham, 5. Martieon Watson, 6. Brendon Creed, 8. Jabari Mitchell, 9. Brent Sam(12.Weah Adams 75'), 10. Akeem Garcia, 11, Andre Fortune (Matthew Woo Ling 51’), 19. Kishun Seecharan (7.Aikim Andrews 65’)
British Virgin Islands—1. Akeem Pope , 5. Trevor Jones, 7. Jael Lennard, 9. Kairon Branch Durante, 11. Shamoy Thompson, 13. Kevaughn Watson, 14. Robert Browne, 16. William Green, 17. Eddie Cupid, 18. Allon Williams, 19. Kenzie Turnbull (Subs not included)