T&T men’s Futsal team received a stern lesson from CONCACAF champions Costa Rica in Heredia on Wednesday night, going down 6-0 at the Palacio de Los Deportes Indoor Arena as both teams continued their build up to the CONCACAF qualifiers.
The home team controlled the pace of the match and were clinical against a T&T team that arrived in San Jose on the morning of the match, after their initial flight had been cancelled. They went ahead in the first half through Alejandro Paniagua and later Diego Zuniga doubled the lead before the break for a 2-0 lead.
After the break, the Costa Ricans increased their advantage, getting goals from Edwin Cubillo, Isaias Mora, Carlos Chavez and Yariel Sandi to complete the rout.
T&T created a few goalscoring opportunities but failed to capitalise, particularly in the second half. Coach Clayton Morris, who guided the team to third in the Caribbean championship in January, said the timing of the defeat was ideal for his players.
“We have six players who have not played at this level before and what a way to get a baptism of fire,” Morris said. “We have been telling them what is expected at this level and tonight’s game was something the players will remember for the rest of their lives. I think they are understanding more, what is required for us to get past Honduras.”
“We have not been playing on this size of field which is the regulated size but we do not have that available to us at home. Defensively we were quite solid in the first 10-15 minutes but they were able to get ahead of us.
“We have another opportunity to play them tonight and we will be aiming to be a lot sharper and composed on the ball,” Morris added.
Captain Jerwyn Balthazar, a member of the Defence Force professional league team, said he expected nothing less of Costa Rica. “The Costa Rican team came off a four-game training camp in Argentina last month during which they lost their one-off international 4-2 to Argentina. Costa Rica has qualified for three FIFA Futsal World Cups,” Balthazar noted.
He said: “Coming into the game we knew it would be difficult but we needed this kind of challenge. This was a lesson and hopefully we can have a better showing on Friday. The most important thing is the preparation for the games against Honduras and I believe this game would have served us well inspite of the 6-0 loss.”
Both teams will face off again today as T&T prepares to face Honduras in a qualifying leg in May while the Costa Ricans are gearing up to defend its title with a spot at the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia at stake.