Trinidad & Tobago hosted Grenada as both countries began their campaigns to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The last few meetings between the sides resulted in 2-2 draws and this brought more of the same with T&T coming back from a 2-0 deficit.
T&T started off the more dominant side but it was Grenada who would be first on the scoresheet. A controversial handball was called on Daniel Phillips inside the box in the 24th minute. The following penalty was converted as Myles Hippolyte sent Denzel Smith the wrong way.
Four minutes later the goalscorer would start things off with a long ball into space for Jermaine Francis. Francis easily got past his matchup with Andre Raymond before firing the ball across the goal. Smith’s punched clearance fell to Hippolyte just inside the box, and his volleyed strike put the visitors up 2-0.
As halftime approached, the hosts found a lifeline. A Grenadian attack was cut out and cleared to Reon Moore. He then switched to find Noah Powder in space as Ryan Telfer made a run through the middle of the pitch. Powder delayed and found Telfer in stride, 1 v 1 with the goalkeeper, and he slotted it home to the bottom left corner.
Angus Eve made a couple of halftime changes for his side. Levi Garcia was a forced substitution with a back injury. He was replaced by Andre Rampersad and Noah Powder was replaced with the more experienced Alvin Jones. This shifted T&T from their 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2.
Not much separated the two teams after the break. The second half featured more long-distance efforts rather than clear-cut chances up until the 75th minute. A long ball was flicked on by Telfer into the path of Moore. A lengthy first touch took him past his defender before he finished past Jason Belfon on his near post to bring the hosts level.
The last few minutes of the match saw many half-chance opportunities for both sides, with Grenada coming closest to breaking the deadlock in the dying minutes. In the end, both sides leave with just a point, probably feeling it should’ve been more.
Both teams will be in action again this weekend as T&T heads to St. Kitts & Nevis to take on the Bahamas for their matchup on Saturday, June 8th, and Grenada host Costa Rica on Sunday, June 9th.
-Andre F.
Edited by Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Concacaf