Courtesy: Caribbean Football Union Web Site


TRINIDAD & TOBAGO CROWNED CFU FUTSAL CHAMPIONS

Apr 06, 2008

Trinidad and Tobago defended its Caribbean Football Union Futsal crown in style on Sunday with a hard earned 6-3 victory over Haiti in the Final of the 2008 championship at the Canedo Hall, Centre of Excellence.

With both teams already through to the CONCACAF Final round to be held in Guatemala from June 2nd - 8th, 2008, the battle was simply for Caribbean supremacy and the indoor Soca Warriors didn’t disappoint the large band of fans that turned up to witness the pulsating action.

For the first time in the high scoring series, the game’s opening goal didn’t come inside the opening 5 minutes as both teams played it safe in the earlies with the Haitians trying to long range route to goal but to little avail. T&T settled and looked more threatening on goal before eventually breaking the deadlock in the ninth minute through Brent Antoine.

Jerwyn Balthazar then doubled the advantage in the 14th minute but Haiti hit back in the 16th minute through Chaperon James. Looking to tie it up before the half, Haiti saw the lead increased by T&T when Colin Joseph made it 3-1 in the final minute before the interval.

T&T kept up the pressure after the break and it wasn’t too long before they seemed sure winners of the championship. Kevin Peters made it 4-1 in the 24th and Sterlin O’Brien pushed it to five a couple minutes later. Joseph then gave the home fans even more to make noise about with a second item in the 33rd minute. Haiti did manage to pull two goals back but the game was already wrapped up by then. T&T coach Clayton Morris recognized the effort by his team, crediting them for sticking to the game plans over the series.

“All credit must be given to them because in today’s game we knew this would be the toughest game because we saw how the Haitians were playing and they were a high scoring team. But we played our game and we executed well. That was always going to be important and the players stuck to the game plan which paid off. I am really happy for the bunch of players and now our efforts will be geared towards preparing for the CONCACAF Finals,” Morris said.

In the earlier third place encounter, Suriname were 7-3 winners over Guyana. Haiti captain Edouard Voltaire and Eliacin Rigarden were the joint tournament topscorers with seven goals each.

MATCH DAY 4: RESULTS:

FINAL

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 6-3 HAITI

Goalscorers:
TRI - (6) Brent Antoine 8"27' (8) Jerwyn Balthazar 13"55' (10) Colin Joseph 19"48'; 32"13 (9) Keven Peters 23"52' (4) Sterlin O'Brien 24"53'
HAI - (10) James Chaperon 15"51 (9) Venett Robins 37"12'; 39"36'

Accumulated Fouls:
1st Period/2nd Period
TRI - 2/6 HAI - 3/6

Cautions:
HAI - (5) Feuille Sadrac 26"24'



THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF

SURINAME 7-3 GUYANA

Goalscorers:
SUR - (11) Gino Brandon 4:36'; 6"; 39"34', (4) Clifton Tjinliepshie 10"50' (9) Edward Imankazijo 35"; 36"39; (8) Clifton Sandnliet 38"; 39"34'
GUY - (6) Troy Kelman 28"24'; (5) Gerald Gritten 32"13'; 35"50'

Accumulated Fouls:
1st Period/2nd Period
SUR - 3/6 GUY - 3/6

Cautions:
SUR - (3) Alberto Doesburg 5"52; (12) Mark Abas 23" GUY - (6) Troy Kelman 5"31' (5) Gerald Gritten 5"42'





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com