The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

TRINIDAD and Tobago didn’t waste any time putting their stamp of arrival on the outcome of their rematch against the Bahamas in the CONCACAF Nations League matchup at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium on Friday.

Coming off their 1-0 triumph on Monday, June 6, 2022, Trinidad & Tobago came back and booted in their first goal in the first five minutes by Kareem Moses. They added another from captain Joevin Jones in the 26th minute and Ryan Telfer capped it off with another in the 34th minute to push their lead to 3-0 at the half.

It didn’t matter because neither team scored in the second half as Trinidad & Tobago held on for a 3-0 victory.

Bahamas head coach Nesly Jean said it was a learning experience for his youthful team.

“The game was very good. But this is a young team. Most of the guys are just 21, 20 and some are 16, but it’s no excuse here,” Jean said. “We have to make mistakes, so this is where we learn.”

While trying to press the Trinidadians, Jean admitted that it opened the game for their opponents to get through their defence and that made the difference in the outcome of the game.

The Bahamas is now in St Vincent & The Grenadines where they are set to play their next game at 3pm.

“I think the guys just need to hold their heads up,” said Nesly, in making the adjustment for today’s game after the loss at home. “We have to tweak it a little because it’s a different team. But we will be ready.”

As the elder statesman on the team, defender Lesly St Fleur said it was a pleasure playing with the younger guys.

“Being an older player on the team, we have to learn from each other,” St Fleur said. “We have to mix some of the veteran players with the young guys to keep the team solid. With the mix of veteran players, I think we will be a team that will be hard to beat.”

But, in the meantime, one of the younger players on the team said they can only get better as they continue to play together.

After the victory, Trinidad & Tobago’s coach Angus Eve said he thought his team played a very good “professional” team.

“We are still gelling. We only brought the guys together three days in Fort Lauderdale and we had a camp and so I was very impressed with how we played today,” Eve said.

“We linked up with each other. We should have scored more goals.

“However, a win away from home, 3-0, is a good result.”

Mission accomplished, was how Jones summed up their performance.

“I think it was a great performance by the team. We came out and got the start we wanted to get and overall, we didn’t score in the second half, but we came here with the mindset to win.

“We got three points and now we can go home and face the next team.”

Eve said they knew once they got on the scoreboard early, they had enough firepower to hurt the young Bahamian team and it worked right into their favour.