Annabelle Chukwu fired in a hat trick, and the pair of Teegan Melenhorst and Kierra Blundell both had braces in leading Concacaf women’s football giants Canada to a 12-0 demolition of T&T in Tuesday’s (February 25) must-win clash of the Concacaf Under-20 Women’s Championships at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Balmain, Couva.
Having won twice before in Group E, both teams were fixed on six points, but the Canadians had a better goal difference, which favoured them in the contest.
T&T coach Dernelle Mascall and her charges were in dire need of a victory to advance, but they eventually came up blatantly short in a match severely lopsided in the Canadians’ favour. Chukwu started the goal fest in the 9th minute and completed her hat trick in the 11th and 55th minutes.
Melenhorst scored twice in the 70th and 73rd, and Blundell added two more in the 85th and 89th. The other goals came from Kaylee Hunter 8th, Lea Larouche 35th, Juliette Perreault 50th, and Jeneva Hernandez Grey in the 54th minute.
Mascall, in her analysis of the match, said her charges paid dearly for their mistakes: “We wanted to stay as disciplined as we could for as long as we could, but we saw where we crumbled in terms of making decisions in possession, and we didn’t really keep the ball as we would have liked, so I guess at this level, against top teams, you pay for your mistakes.”
“It wasn’t man-to-man marking in the middle; we just wanted to play discipline as a team, keep the ball in front of us, and allow them to keep the ball in front because they are a team that likes to possess. And the idea behind it was to not allow them to break lines and get through as easily as they did.”
According to Mascall, “We wanted to be a team that possessed the ball and be more mature in our decision-making when we had the ball, and we could see where we faltered a lot in that instance, and again, we paid for our mistakes.”
The Canadians were not always confident of a positive result before the start. Their concerns about the T&T attacking force expected to have been posed by Orielle Martin, J’Eleisha Alexander, and Mariah Williams, among others, were real, coach Cindy Tye told the media via the post-match press conference after the game.
“Trinidad and Tobago is out of the tournament now, but they’re so spirited, and they have some really great players. So, we were telling our kids that we have to make sure that we put our best foot forward and keep our good habits, and that’s what they did tonight, and stayed disciplined so we can prepare for the next round,” Tye explained.
With the result, the T&T under-17 girls’ team will now attempt to qualify for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, from October 17 to November 8.
The Soca Princesses have been stashed in Group C alongside giants United States, Honduras, and El Salvador and will be played from March 31 to April 6 at the Ato Boldon Stadium. T&T will need to win the group or be the best second-place team to be among four teams that will earn qualifying berths.
Mascall’s roster for the U-20s comprised more than nine players who, in January for the qualifiers in a group that featured the USVI, Belize, and Honduras, were recruited from the U-17 team that progressed to the second round of competition.
Mascall believes the experience gained during the U-20 campaign will help the U-17 girls when they go into action next month. “There’s a lot of lessons to learn; they got a taste of what the real thing is like, so they would now be more mentally prepared, they would be more mature, and we hope for a good result against the USA.
TUESDAY’S RESULT
Canada- 12 (Annabelle Chukwu 9, 11, 55, Kaylee Hunter 8, Lea Larouche 35, Juliette Perreault 50, Jeneva Hernandez Gray 54, Teegan Melenhorst 70, 73, Kierra Blundell 85, 89, Ella Kettles 90+1) vs T&T- 0
