T&T's Calypso Stickmen will contest the 2024 FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Muscat, Oman.
This after they hammered Jamaica 9-2 in their semifinal contest on Friday night at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Kingston Jamaica, to secure one of two automatic qualifying spots that come from booking a place into the final, while a third qualifying team will join them from a play-off of the two losing semifinalists.
Teague Marcano spearheaded the win with a beaver-trick (five goals), coming in the second, 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th minutes of play, while Akim Toussaint got a brace in the sixth and the 19th, with Shawn Phillip (sixth minute) and Mickell Pierre (13th minute).
The win didn't come without a fight from the country's regional rival who battled to get two goals in the ninth and 15th minute from the stick of Nickoy Stephenson.
It's the third time that a T&T men's team has qualified for a World Cup. T&T will now face the United States in the title match on Sunday at 7.15 pm.
Earlier in the day, T&T basking with an unblemished record in the tournament so far produced a dominant performance in their quarterfinal encounter against Panama at the same venue with hat-tricks coming from Marcano and Toussaint in a comprehensive 10-1 rout.
The Pool B winners seem almost certain of a place in the FIH Hockey5s World Cup with the victory, which confirmed their superiority in the tournament.
England-based Marcano, who recently helped his team Southgate Hockey Club to promotion to the Outdoor Premier Division, as well as one of two promotional spots in the six-club England Hockey League Adult Super 6s Indoor Championships Men’s National Division Two, handed T&T the lead after just the first minute of play. He later completed his hat-trick with goals in the 10th and 19th minutes.
Toussaint, who was given the role of captain of the team, led by example, with his hat trick coming in the sixth, seventh, and 19th minutes.
With an almost free reign for attackers, the men in red, white, and black raced to a 4-0 half-time lead and made the win a matter of formality, with Pierre scoring a brace in the 12th and 17th and the pair of Phillip and Jordan Vieira getting the other two goals in the fourth and seventh minutes.
The lone Panama item came from Jasson Miranda in the fourth.
Meanwhile, the T&T women will today, also go after a World Cup spot when they take on Paraguay, who lost to their South American counterparts Uruguay 5-1 in their semifinal contest on Thursday night.
The winner of this play-off at 6.30 pm (T&T time) will join the two women's finalists in the World Cup in January.