T&T’s beach footballers gave a fighting display on Wednesday (March 12) against Panama in a must-win clash of the Concacaf Beach Soccer Qualifiers for the 2025 World Cup but were beaten 5-3 at the Malcolm Park Beach Soccer Facility in Nassau, Bahamas.
The result meant the Panamanians had earned the right to advance as one of the top two teams in the group, after beating the home team - the Bahamas 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out, following a 2-2 result at the end of regulation time on Tuesday.
Coincidentally, the T&T men also fell to the United States 4-1 on penalties after a similar 2-2 tie in their opening match on Tuesday (March 11).
Chad Appoo-coached team entered the tournament as the eighth-ranked team in the region.
Led by T&T Premier Football League campaigner Jesse Bailey, the men in red, white and black had a flying start to the match when their all-time leading goalscorer Kevon “Showtime” Woodley latched on to goalkeeper Jabari Gray’s throw-out by connecting with a bicycle kick that cannoned against the crossbar with less than a minute gone in the match.
Instead, the Panamanians took the advantage when goalkeeper Juan Loaiza’s pitch was quickly met with the head by Rafael Garcia into the path of his name-sake Eliecer Garcia, who connected sweetly with an acrobatic shot that flew past Gray in the T&T goal for the 1-0 advantage.
However, their celebrations were muted when the T&T men levelled the score. From a quick throw-in from captain Bailey, Jaydon Joseph charged in to place the ball perfectly past the stranded Loaiza for a tied 1-1 score.
The Panamanians, a qualifier for the World Cup in the past, were later given an outstanding display from attacker Alfonso Maquensi with a hat-trick that stole the game away from the T&T in the remaining moments of the match, despite a brace from T&T’s “Showtime” Woodley.
With the first period of play still in its early stage, Maquensi opened his account by drifting past two defenders before hitting hard and low past Gray for a 2-1 scoreline.
Still, there was no end to the proceedings with Appoo’s men confident of one of two top spots. Strangely though, the equaliser came from a reckless tackle on Akinola Gregory by Alberto Kelly which earned him marching orders from Guatemalan referee Wilfredy Villegas and sent the T&T team to the penalty spot, where Woodley made no mistake by sending the goalie the wrong way.
Still, the Panamanians could not be stopped, as Maquensi unleashed a long-range shot that sailed into the goal for a 3-2 lead soon before the end of the first period.
Late in the second period, Woodley, for a second time put his team back on level footing when he headed in a right-side corner from Shane Hospedales.
However, Maquensi completed his hat-trick midway in the third period from a free kick, and then Rodney Ramos drilled the final item to assure a 5-3 win that took Panama to the round of four.
T&T will, on Thursday (March 13), face the home team in their final match of the group at 8 pm.
