A hat-trick by Honduran striker Jeffry Miranda guided his team past the round of 16 of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship in Florida yesterday, hammering a battling T&T team 4-1 at the IMG Academy. The result means that the Stern John-coached team has been booted out of the competition.
T&T faced constant Honduran pressure from the start and were lucky not to have gone down in as early as the third minute from the penalty spot, when Tyrese Pierre appeared to have fouled Honduras' Jose Aguillera in the box, causing the referee to point to the penalty spot. But captain Steven Bonilla fired a weak shot that could not beat T&T goalkeeper Kahlil Oliver from the spot.
T&T's best chance of the half came in the 14th minute when a right-side cross bounced nicely through the defence for striker Jaiye Sheppard but his snap-shot was pushed wide by goalkeeper Jose Banegas. From the resulting corner, Justin Araujo-Wilson's header at the far post was again pushed wide by the Honduras custodian.
Both teams went to the half with the score at 0-0 but Honduras intensified their search thereafter and benefitted. Aguillera's centre from the right side was initially blocked by some dogged T&T defending but Miranda got ahead of the T&T defence to head the loose ball past Oliver for the opener in the 46th.
Ten minutes later, however, T&T revived its chances by drawing level. Kevan Kahoussi's poor cross from a free-kick on top the area somehow found its way through to an unmarked Sheppard to fire past the Honduras goalie on the turn in the 56th minute.
T&T, despite their outstanding play to qualify for the knock-out phase, struggled to gain confidence in both attack and defence. And they paid for this in the 62nd minute from another sweeping Honduran attack down the right side.
Andre Orellana's cross from the right flank was picked up on the wide left by Michael Rosales, who then squared the ball back for the onrushing Miranda and fired powerfully past Oliver for the 2-1 lead, despite the challenge of two defenders.
John tried to boost his team's attack by introducing the fresh legs of Curtis De Leon for Zachary Welch but it did not curb the Hondurans' appetite for another goal which came in the 76th minute. From a counter-attack, Rosales in the centre, quickly released to Aguillera down the right flank, who wasted little time in whipping the ball across the goal area for Aguillera to sneak in past a hesitant T&T defender Jordon Britto, to score the team's third goal.
Nine minutes later (87th), Miranda completed the rout to confirm his team's entry into the quarterfinals. But it took some help from the hanging heads of the T&T defenders, who failed to keep their eyes on Miranda. When Rosales centred for him in the centre of the park, he turned nicely and calmly put the ball beyond the reach of Oliver for his hat-trick and the 4-1 triumph.
