T&T's women footballers kept alive their chances of securing the gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games with a hardfought 3-2 victory over Guatemala in Venezuela yesterday. Maylee Attin Johnson was the toast among the T&T players as she grabbed an 88th minute winner to push T&T to nine points from four matches heading into their last outing against Haiti tomorrow. The Haitians, with four points from two matches, were scheduled to meet hosts Venezuela in last night's second match. The Venezuelans are also locked on nine points with T&T and face Puerto Rico in their last match tomorrow which means that once the hosts and Haiti draw or Haiti fails to get three points, T&T will be guaranteed the silver when they play in the gold medal match tomorrow, as they currently hold a better goal difference than the Venezuelans.
T&T went behind in the 4th minute when Daniella Mendez headed home but T&T fought back to get the equaliser through Kennya Cordner in the 34th on an assist by Johnson. Cordner became the tournament topscorer with four goals to date. T&T then grabbed a 2-1 lead through Karyn Forbes with a well taken free kick atop the area a minute from half time.
But the Guatemalans hit back and equalised through Katherine Ramo in the 46th minute from the free kick spot.
Both teams battled it out in search of a winner which came in the 88th minute when substitute Tiana Bateau hit a 30-metre drive which crashed against the upright and Johnson was on spot to comfortably nail the rebound for the eventual winner. "It was a really hardfought victory for us this evening and we are hoping to remain with a chance of the Gold on Sunday. The game was evenly balanced for long periods but we showed a lot of grit and came away with a well deserved win in the end. I am really happy for the players as it's also putting us in good shape for the Concacaf Gold Cup," Shabazz said after the win.
T&T face Haiti tomorrow.
