T&T footballers miss first match

From Trinidad Express

Trinidad and Tobago national Under-15 footballers were unable to get a flight out of the country yesterday and did not play their opening match of the inaugural Concacaf Under-15 Championship now taking place in the Cayman Islands.

Late yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFA) general secretary Sheldon Phillip confirmed that the team did not leave the country as anticipated, following the very late release of funds by the Ministry of Sport. The T&T team had originally planned to leave on Tuesday, but late release of Government sponsorship saw them without tickets and funds. After money was released on Tuesday, the adjusted plan was to have the team fly to the Cayman Islands via a special COPA Airlines flight and play their first match later that night. Those plans also fell through.

“The situation as it stands, is that we were unable to get any flights out of Trinidad and Tobago. We informed Concacaf and asked that the opening match be postponed to a later date and that the next match (today against Honduras) be shifted to a later time in the day,” Philip said. “Due to the funding issues, we have gotten caught up in the typical travel problems at this time of the year. We are trying to get them to leave tomorrow (today), but the details still have to be worked out. We are in constant contact with Concacaf to let them know what the situation is.”

Meanwhile, the tournament began with Belize beating St Lucia 1-0 and Jamaica hammering Grenada 4-0 on the opening day of competition.Following a tightly contested first half that was well contested in the midfield, Alvin Sifontes struck from inside the 18-yard box with 14 minutes remaining in regulation time to give Belize a narrow 1-0 victory at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Cayman Islands. The match was the first in competition history to pit sides from the Caribbean and Central America against each other.Meanwhile, Peter Campbell scored two goals as Jamaica defeated Grenada 4-0. The first half ended scoreless thanks to the outstanding play of Grenada goalkeeper Reshane Houston, who made several tremendous saves. Three minutes after the interval though, the Jamaicans jumped ahead 2-0 thanks to Campbell’s brace. With less than ten minutes remaining in the game, Stephen Malcolm (63’) and Justin McMaster (66’) added to their tallies.

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The 4:30 match (Thu) at Truman Bodden between Trinidad & Tobago and Honduras remains provisionally scheduled pending the arrival of the Trinidadian team to the island who are expected to arrive in time for it..

Cayman Islands score 12 in their opener

The hosts of the CONCACAF Men’s U15 tournament, Cayman Islands won their first match Tuesday with a twelve-nil victory over St Maarten. Their next match Thursday (15) is against US Virgin Islands. Leighton Thomas’ five goals and the young Cayman player remains the top scorer in the contest so far.