T&T’s Soca Warriors were held to a goalless tie by French Guiana in their second match of the Concacaf Nations League at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, on Tuesday night, putting their hopes of advancing as one of two top teams in the group against Cuba next month in jeopardy.
That home-and-away series will mean that Derek King’s Warriors will have to win both. They are at the at the bottom of the group with one point.
The Warriors were without speedy striker Levi Garcia, who asked to be left out of the team, having just recovered from injury, but King’s promise of entertaining football never materialised.
In a must-win affair that proved to be expectedly cagey at the start for both teams, referee Adonis Carrasco of Dominica brought the game to a dead stop after one of the light towers at the Bacolet facility went out. He, however, called them back out due to sufficient lighting soon after.
By then the crowd, starved for action, were brought to their feet when midfielder Duane Muckette played a give-and-go with veteran striker Kevin ‘Showtime’ Woodley on top of the French Guiana penalty area, but his curling effort aimed at the top left corner was tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Fei-hong Faham in the 25th minute.
Two minutes later, the visitors countered an earlier attack by the home team. This time Ludovic Baal, though being tightly marked in the T&T defensive third, managed to spread the ball across the box to his brother Louic Baal to connect with a powerful, low shot that proved to be no trouble for Denzil Smith in the T&T goal.
Daniel Phillip, the Stevenage FC defensive midfielder, came close to the opener in the 39th minute. The stocky T&T midfielder was gifted a ball from some 25 meters out and unleashed a thunderous right-footed drive that cannoned low off the left upright before bouncing to safety.
The shot breathed life into the Warriors, who lost their opening game in the group 4-0 to Honduras last Friday in Tegucigalpa. King made a couple changes to the team, but it did not have the impact he expected.
In fact, the visitors got a sight at goal from a buildup from centre to left where overlapping defender Yohan Marmot operated, but with Smith covering the first post, Mamot tried to explore the vacant far post, but he hit the ball high and wide of Smith’s post.
The teams could not be separated at the halfway stage, and when they returned, the visitors were successful in playing a decent possession game, only for the T&T defence to break things up on their final passes.
King sought reinforcement in the second half, bringing in Kaile Auvray and Reon Moore for Real Gill and Woodley, and it almost did the trick in the 64th minute when Andre Rampersad delivered a pin-point pass to Moore unmarked inside the French Guiana area. However, after going past his marker, the lanky Moore hit his shot into the side net, to the dismay of his teammates.
King also turned to Noah Powder, who came on as a substitute for Ryan Telfer, but he too made a mess of a right-side centre from Moore, hitting straight into the grasp of Faham in the 66th minute.
With the game heading to a goalless tie, Arnold Abelinti could have won it for his team in the 84th minute, as he was served a lose ball into the TT area while being unmarked. Abelinti’s attempt though sailed high over Smith’s goal to maintain the 0-0 scoreline.
FRENCH GUIANA TEAM
1 Fai-hong Faham, 3 Yohan Marmot, 5 Thervilus Ericsson, 10 Ludovic Baal, 11 Joel Sarrucco, 13 Mickael Colino, 14 Gregory Lescot, 15 Keddy Baal, 17 Thomas Vancaeyezeele, 19 Yvelin Nozile, 21 Loic Baal
Subs
16 Marcos Buisan, 2 Yorick Gailou, 6 Thomas Nemouthe, 7 Jules Haabo, 8 Dany Florentine, 9 Arnold Abelinti, 12 Augustin Kwasiba, 18 Yannis Letard, 20 Jimmy Benice.
TT TEAM
22 Denzil Smith, 2 Aubrey David, 3 Tristan Hodge, 4 Daniel Phillip, 5 Leland Archer, 7 Ryan Telfer, 10 Duane Muckette, 11 Real Gill, 16 Alvin Jones, 18 Andre Rampersad, 23 Kevon Woodley
Subs
1 Christopher Biggette, 21 Aaron Enill, 6 Andre Raymond, 8 Isaiah Lee, 9 Nathaniel James, 12 Steffen Yeates, 13 Reon Moore, 14 Shannon Gomez, 15 Dantaye Gilbert, 17 Justin Garcia, 19 Noah Powder, 20 Kaile Auvray.
