TT coach wants national futsal league after 11-1 mauling ends Concacaf dream

Trinidad and Tobago's men's futsal team fell to a humiliating 11-1 loss in their final group game at the 2024 Concacaf Futsal Championship in Managua, Nicaragua, on April 15 as they were hammered by Dominican Republic (DR) to crash out of the group stage.

Having suffered respective 7-4 and 5-3 losses to the US and Guatemala in their first two games of the tournament, coach Paul Decle's team needed a victory in their final group game to give themselves a chance of advancing to the quarterfinals as one of the best third-placed teams.

TT started the game on the back foot, as Che Benny, who scored three goals in the first two games, was ruled out through suspension after receiving yellow cards in the first two games.
Still, coach Decle said his team had the belief they could get the job done.

Playing a DR team which got a stunning 7-6 win over the US on Sunday, TT found themselves facing waves of attacks in the first half and they went into the break down 3-0 after goals by Jose Belliard, Marco Gomez and David Rondon.

With the DR chasing goals to bolster their goal difference in a bid to top group C, the floodgates opened in the second half as they played the TT team off the court with precise passing and clinical finishing.

"Today's game was very disappointing, obviously," Decle told Newsday on Monday. "Unfortunately, we were on the end of quite a few goals today. It was a difficult one for us to swallow. While we are disappointed, we feel good about the effort we gave.

"I can't say we are happy with the way we lost, but we showed that we could play the game," Decle said.

The TT team looked disjointed defensively, and they were unable to keep possession for sustained periods to pose any real threat to the opposition.

By the 29th minute in the 40-minute contest, TT slipped to a 6-0 deficit. Jameel Neptune scored TT's lone goal in the contest mere seconds after DR got their sixth when he smartly finished off a pass from his AC PoS teammate Michel Poon-Angeron.

There was precious little for TT to celebrate thereafter, though, as DR capitalised on poor defending in the final ten minutes to add a further five goals to their jaw-dropping tally.

The impressive Rondon scored three goals in the second half to complete a beaver-trick, taking his tally to seven for the tournament. Belliard also helped himself to a brace.

Decle said the TT players showed they are on par with their Concacaf counterparts in terms of the quality they bring to the table, particularly with their fighting efforts in the first two matches. Crucially, though, Decle says the team lacks consistent exposure in a competitive futsal environment to go toe-to-toe with teams at the international level.

"It was always going to be tough coming up against countries whose players play in professional futsal leagues. The US and Guatemala have a professional local futsal league," Decle said.

"All things considered, we don't have futsal leagues and obviously it's footballers who are coming to play futsal. We are still proud of the team.

"The DR. They have players who play across Europe in futsal leagues. I think they were underestimated as being arguably the strongest team in the group."

While Decle acknowledged TT's "small-goal" culture, he said more steps must be taken to establish local futsal leagues which can serve as a feeder for the national team.

"In my report, I will definitely be recommending that we put our heads together to get some sort of futsal league going. The sport of futsal suits the type of players we have in TT," Decle said.

"We know what it's like to play small-sided games. Having a league where the players have to play under the rules of futsal, things like that will bring us into tournaments like this better prepared where we can focus on just executing what we are trying to do."

For future tournaments, Decle also said the team's preparations can be improved, as they only had the players for one month in the buildup to the Concacaf tourney. The team trained three-four times a week based on players' schedules with their TT Premier Football League clubs.

With the emphatic win, DR jumped to six points and easily booked their spot in the quarterfinals with a second-place finish in the group. Guatemala (seven points) topped the group after a 3-3 draw with the third-placed US (four points) on Monday. TT finished bottom of the group with no points.

The four semifinalists in the Concacaf tourney will advance to this year's Fifa Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan.

The TT squad will return home on April 17.

This story was originally published with the title Trinidad and Tobago mauled 11-1 by Dominican Republic, exit Concacaf Futsal Champs and has been updated to include additional details. See original post below.

Trinidad and Tobago's men's futsal team fell to a humiliating 11-1 loss in their final group game at the 2024 Concacaf Futsal Championship in Managua, Nicaragua on April 15, as they were hammered by Dominican Republic to crash out of the group stage.

Having suffered respective 7-4 and 5-3 losses to the US and Guatemala in their first two games of the tournament, coach Paul Decle's team needed a victory in their final group game to give themselves a chance of advancing to the quarterfinals as one of the best third-placed teams.

TT started the game on the back foot, as Che Benny, who scored three goals in the first two games, was not in the team for the must-win match.

Playing a Dominican Republic team which got a stunning 7-6 win over the US on April 14, TT found themselves facing waves of attacks in the first half and they went into the break down 3-0 after goals by Jose Belliard, Marco Gomez and David Rondon.

With the Dominican Republic chasing goals to bolster their goal difference in a bid to top group C, the floodgates opened in the second half as they absolutely played the TT team off the court with precise passing and clinical finishing.

The TT team looked disjointed defensively, and they were unable to keep possession for sustained periods to pose any real threat to the opposition.

By the 29th minute in the 40-minute contest, TT slipped to a 6-0 deficit. Jameel Neptune scored TT's lone goal in the contest mere seconds after Dominican Republic got their sixth when he finished off a pass from his AC PoS teammate Michel Poon-Angeron.

There was precious little for TT to celebrate thereafter, though, as Dominican Republic capitalised on poor defending in the final ten minutes to add a further five goals to their jaw-dropping tally.

The impressive Rondon scored three goals in the second half to complete a beaver-trick, taking his tally to seven for the tournament. Belliard also helped himself to a brace.

With the emphatic win, Dominican Republic jumped to six points and easily booked their spot in the quarterfinals, while they finished the group with a healthy +9 goal differential. TT finished bottom of the group with no points.

The four semifinalists in the Concacaf tourney will advance to this year's Fifa Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan.