T&T's Men's Futsal Team ended their World Cup aspirations on Thursday night after suffering a heart wrenching 5-3 defeat to Honduras in their second leg Concacaf playoff qualifier at the BN Arena in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Needing to win to advance, T&T conceded two goals in the closing minute of the 40-minute match as Honduras captain Carlos Montes and Antonio Moncada converted their chances to send T&T packing at the end of the affair. Both teams battled to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday and had everything to play for, with the winner set for a place in the Concacaf Final round scheduled to start in a few days in San Jose.
Concacaf giants United States were also eliminated Thursday, losing 5-3 to Canada in the second match at the BN Arena.
T&T had the worst possible start when Juan Hernandez's feeble left footed attempt from five metres out, slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Kevin Graham in the 3rd minute for a 1-0 lead.
However TT were back on level terms as Kerry Joseph squeezed his shot through the leg of Honduras custodian Norman Vega after Jerwyn Balthazar only a minute later. The goal lifted their confidence and TT enjoyed a period of dominance from which they should have scored when Kareem Perry found room inside the area but turned his shot wide.
Perry made amends moments later, picking out Ishmael Daniel with a perfectly weighed pass in the box to fire past the Honduras goalie at the far post.
T&T endured a period of relentless pressure from the Hondurans within the following four minutes or so and could do nothing to prevent the Central Americans storming back, first to level the score at 2-2 and then take a 3-2 lead, with goals from Luis Rivera and Hasser Ortiz. Both goals came within the 15th minute of play as T&T lost concentration and stopped pressing the Honduran defence for an extensive period
T&T had it all do to but would force their way back into the match with an equalising goal from Jameel Neptune four minutes before half time. The majority of the second half was played in a cautious manner with both teams unwilling to commit in attack. Neptune forced Vega to save with a decent left footed effort and Balthazar also had a snap shot that narrowly missed the upright in the 35th minute.
With the clock winding down, Bevon Bass missed a glorious opportunity to put T&T ahead with what may have turned out to be the deciding goal. Inside the 18th minute, T&T surged forward on the counter after a Honduran attack broke down. Daniel slipped wide on the right to Balthazar who in turn played a perfect low pass for Bass on the far post. But with only the already struggling goalkeeper to beat with a tap in from less than a metre from the goal, Bass miss hit with his right foot, falling in the process as the ball trickled over the touch line for a goal kick.
A one-minute time out was called but it was soon all over for T&T when an attempted cross from Montes took a deflection off Noel and slipped past a stranded Graham on his near left post. Honduras were 4-3 ahead in the 19th minute but there was enough time for T&T to force another great opportunity, as Balthazar's shot was partially stopped by the goalkeeper and Neptune's desperate attempt at the rebound from a metre out was foiled by a last ditched challenge by a Honduran player.
Goalkeeper Vega got hold of the ball and from a quick throw out, Honduras broke on the counter once again, outnumbering T&T in their half, setting up a simple close range conversion for Moncada. T&T goalkeeper Graham, who performed creditably in Wednesday's game was tested a few times again in this encounter but could do nothing about the final two goals.
T&T coach Clayton Morris, notably disappointed by the result said "A great disappointment for us to go out in the manner we did, but I could not ask any more of this team for the effort they put out in these two games."