Trinidad & Tobago show their dominance in Gold Cup win over Montserrat

Trinidad & Tobago made a statement in their Gold Cup Prelim match as they defeated Montserrat 6-1 on July 2nd at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

The result was not a huge surprise as Trinidad are ranked 103rd in the world while Montserrat are 180th, but with both teams playing well in their recent World Cup qualifying matches a closer much was expected.

Right from the kickoff, Trinidad were imposing their will on Montserrat. Crowding the ball and making every pass and receive a challenge. That resulted in multiple early chances at goal and there efforts were rewarded with a penalty, which was put away calmly by Kevin Molina in the 21’

It only got worse from there for Montserrat as they were trying to speed the game up and catch Trinidad on their heels. However, it was Montserrat goalkeeper Corrin Brooks who was caught off his line by Marcus Joseph as he takes a shot from about 40 yards out to make it 2-0 Trinidad in the 35’.

As the first half was coming to a close, Trinidad made sure to keep their foot on the gas pedal with suffocating pressure, which allowed Ryan Telfer to find space behind the Montserrat defense and his right-footed shot made it 3-0 in the 45+2’.

The start of the second half showed that Montserrat were not going away without a fight. They would eventually get their breakthrough when Lyle Taylor scored a header off a Spencer Weir shot that was deflected by the crossbar to make it 3-1 in the 55’.

Unfortunately, for Montserrat, that was as close as they would get as Trinidad regained control of the game just two minutes later. A beautiful long ball from Jelani Peters found Judah Garcia in the box and he made an easy finish to make it 4-1 in the 57’.

It was open season for Trinidad at this point, as their pacey winger Reon Moore consistently found space behind the Montserrat back line and made them pay for the poor defense with two more goals to make the final score line 6-1.

With this victory, Trinidad & Tobago will now face French Guiana in the second round of the Gold Cup Prelims on Tuesday at 4:30 PM.