Trinidad and Tobago women Soca Warriors got their 2022 Concacaf World Championship, which serves as a qualifying competition for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games campaign off to a good start with three points against Central American opponents Nicaragua at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Thursday.
Head coach Kenwyne Jones said after the game that his team prepared well ahead of the 3 pm kickoff which was rough for both teams as water breaks had to be used during the encounter.
Jones, a former national senior and junior team captain, whose aim is to lift the standard of the game in the country and of course carry the team to their first-ever World Cup showed great signs from kick-off.
Playing in group F it was evident that T&T was more organized and settled first as they bossed the possession from early on. It didn't take long for the deadlock to be broken, the 17th minute to be exact when Tobago-born Asha James who plays for Texas A&M University collected the pass from Lauryn Hutchinson, brushed aside her defender got into the box and calmly slotted home in front of the home fans who were delighted to be back out watching live football again.
"That sort of display was evidence of what the head coach made mention of after the match saying that he was not worried about this opposition once the women did what they worked on in training they would get the job done," said Jones asked about how the team performed.
The spectators at the Hasely Crawford Stadium was once again jumping out of their seats in the 29th minute when Rhea Belgrave converted a Karyn Forbes cross for the 2-0 lead.
However, agonizingly, the assistant referee's flag was raised to curtail all celebrations before the first water break.
Just as a perfect half in the eyes of the coaching staff and spectators neared its end in the 44th minute T&T was down to 10-man when midfielder Kadie Johnson received her second yellow from referee Lizzet Garcia whose decision met the irate of the fans as she gave the marching order.
At this point of the match, only T&T players were cautioned (yellow carded) while there were more than a handful of questionable challenges that went unpunished when it seemed that the visitors were in the wrong.
When Jones was asked about the officiating of the match he said: "I will not comment on the referee, anyone who watched the game and was in the stands, it was plain to see what took place out there so I will not make a personal comment on the referee's performance."
The second half kicked off with T&T changing formation to accommodate the man advantage the visitors had, thus Nicaragua had more possession and were the aggressors. That didn't last for long as the game's second goal came in the 64th minute and it was the captain Karyn Forbes who deservingly got her just reward for all the slaving she did all day long. Asha James' corner caused all sorts of confusion in the box in which fellow Tobagonian Forbes poked it home to ignite a roar from the stands as Bethania Aburto was beaten once again.
T&T's number one keeper Kimika Forbes had to be substituted late in the match as she aggravated a foot injury giving Tenesha Palmer some valuable minutes between the upright.
However, she was not at fault when Yessenia Flores expertly and impressively got a consolation for the visitors in the dying seconds of injury time for the 2-1 final. Lisbeth Moreno ball diceted the defence for Palmer to dribble her way around the remaining central defenders and dared to use them outside of her right boot to add the icing on the cake. With three points in the bag, Jones noted that the ladies will enjoy the victory for just about 25 minutes at the hotel before they refocus on the next task at hand Dominica on Sunday. The team will depart on Friday for Guyana.
