AC Port-of-Spain's Che Benny scored two goals and assisted in another but it was not enough as T&T's futsal men squandered a 2-0 half-time lead in a 5-3 loss to Guatemala in their second match in Group of the 12-team Concacaf Futsal Championship at Polideportivo Alexis Arguello in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday.
Beaten 7-4 by 2021 tournament runners-up USA in their opener on Saturday, the T&T men went into their clash against Guatemala who beat Dominican Republic 7-5 on Saturday, needing a win to keep alive their hopes of a top two pool finish to secure a direct spot in the main draw knockout of the tournament, the Confederation’s qualifying competition for the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
And just as they did against the USA, T&T took the lead when Benny was on spot at the far post to guide home a left-sided centre from Darius Ollivierra for a seventh-minute lead.
Nine minutes later, Benny turned provider for Shane Hospedales to finish off a counter-attack past goalkeeper Jose Reyes to put ahead 2-0, a lead they took into the end of the 20-minute per-half contest.
Whatever was said by T&T coach Paul Decle to his players at half-time did not seem to stick as within two minutes of the restart, Guatemala pulled a goal back through Bryan Santizo and three minutes later, Alan Aguilar made it 2-2.
The Central Americans then took their first lead in the match in the 27th minute via Roberto Alvarado which was quickly followed by their fourth straight goal in the 28th minute thanks to Marvin Sandoval.
Benny then kept T&T in the match with a solo effort and finish past Reyes in the 29th minute, but any hopes of a T&T revival soon faded when Patrick Ruiz fired home a fifth item for Guatemala with five minutes left.
Both teams then missed a few half-chances to add to their tally, but in the end, Guatemala held on for their second win in as many matches while T&T remained winless ahead of their final pool match today against USA from 12 noon needing nothing less than a win to stay in with a chance of finishing as one of the two best third-placed teams to advance to the quarterfinals..
In the second match in the pool on Sunday, the Dominican Republic stunned USA 6-5 to and will meet Guatemala today from 2 pm.
On Saturday night in Group A defending champion Costa Rica beat Haiti 8-2 and Mexico whipped Suriname 7-3 while in Group B, Panama doubled up on host Nicaragua 6-3 and Cuba and Canada battled to a 5-5 draw.
At the end of the group stage today, the group winners, runners-up, and the two best-place third-placed finishers will advance to the knockout stage.
The eight-team knockout stage will commence with the quarterfinals on Wednesday, April 17, followed by the semifinals (April 18), and third-place match, and final on April 20.
At the conclusion of the event, the top four finishers (semifinalists) will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024.
At the 2021 Concacaf tournament held in Guatemala, T&T failed to advance from their three-team round-robin pool after losing to Guatemala, 4-3, and debutants Dominican Republic, 6-2.
In their previous appearance, T&T was sixth on debut in 2004 after losing to Mexico 6-4 and Costa Rica 1-0 in pool play before beating Suriname 6-1 to end with a 1-2 record while in 2008, the T&T men finished seventh after losses in all three pool matches to Guatemala (5-0), Cuba (9-2), and Mexico (7-3), while they did not qualify in 2012, and 2016.
Costa Rica won the 2021 title, its fourth after beating USA 3-2 in the final, while Guatemala topped Panama 3-2 in extra-time with the top four nations representing the Confederation in the FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021.