FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago opened their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign with a 3-0 thrashing of St Kitts and Nevis at the DRV PNK Stadium here Sunday.
Alvin Jones put them ahead in the 43rd minute for a 1-0 half-time lead before Ajani Fortune doubled the lead in the 65th minute.
A Jameel Ible 73rd minute own goal put the Group A contest beyond the reach of St Kitts, who reached the group stage of the confederation showpiece via the preliminaries here last week.
“I thought that we were very composed today,” said T&T head coach, Angus Eve.
“They had a bit more rhythm than us because this [was] our first game – they played a couple of games before [in the preliminaries].
“But I think the guys coped with them really well and we pushed the ball around a difficult park tonight with the rain but I think all in all it was a good performance.”
England-based forward Omari Sterling-James was denied at the near post in the 15th minute by goalkeeper Nicklas Frenderup, as St Kitts fired early warning shots.
Levi Garcia then responded for the Trinidadians in the 28th minute, sending his free kick over the bar before the enterprising Kevin Molino had a shot blocked on the edge of the 18-yard box in the 33rd minute.
With half-time approaching, T&T took the lead when Neveal Hackshaw floated a brilliantly weighted pass over the top for Jones to chest down in the box, and drill his clinical finish past goalkeeper Julani Archibald.
“It was just we needed to move the ball faster. [We were] moving the ball too slow,” Eve said in explaining T&T’s inability to break down the Kittitian defence earlier.
“They sit very deep and try to prevent us from breaking the lines so we wanted to move the ball a little bit sharper so we could effectively break the lines.
“So when we started to do that and get the ball going up the flanks, that’s how we got the first goals.”
The second goal was a screamer, the United States-based Fortune blasting a 20-yard drive past Archibald after shaking off three defenders with a strong, intelligent run.
And Garcia’s good work down the right led to the third goal, his squared pass into the box ricocheting off Ible and into the back of the nets.
