Mexico crush TT U-17s 5-0

Mexico crushed Trinidad and Tobago's Under-17 team 5-0 yesterday to take top spot in Group E of the Concacaf Under-17 Championship at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

TT coach Stern John made six changes to the starting line-up, possibly with a round of 16 clash on Wednesday against Honduras in mind.

TT were coming off victories against Bermuda (3-1) and Jamaica (3-2) to set-up an intriguing clash with Mexico to decide the group.

But against a much-changed line-up, Mexico dominated the 90 minutes, with some of the TT players looking lost.

Mexico's Santiago Munoz capitalised with a hat-trick to lead the rout. Brian Gonzales opened the scoring in the 8th minute with an unmarked header in the box from a right-sided cross. Munoz got into the action with another header in the 27th from a free-kick on the right. The forward tapped in his second from point-blank range after a botched clearance from another in-swinging free-kick in the 35th.

It was one-way traffic in the second half too with Efrain Alvarez heading in his team's fourth off another teasing cross. And Munoz capped the performance with a cool finish after being played through one-on-one with the TT goalie.